Times They Are A' Changin
by BelovedMaeve
Summary: An AU in which the Adams-Foster family deals with the aftermath of Brandon's confession in "Metropolis", strengthening and building sibling bonds, the incipient arrival of the new baby, and the supermoms in charge of this brood of five-soon-to-be-six kids.
1. Night Thoughts

_This is going to be an AU story, something that I've been trying to avoid honestly, at least for this particular fandom. I'm not against them per se, I just believe in the "butterfly effect" philosophy in which changing one thing can drastically change others, until you might have characters and actions that are nearly unrecognizable from the originals, and for the most part, I like the originals. That being said, I wanted an alternative to the season one finale in the worst way. I complained a little to __**Obsessedatopia**__ and she kindly advised me to, you know, write it. After hemming and hawing a little, I did. I plan on exploring several things in this story: consequences for Brandon that don't involve catastrophic injuries and statutory rape, sibling bonding of all shapes and sizes (and what it means when sibling bonds are formed after early childhood), Dani – because I think she's a predator and I'm going to fix her little red wagon, baby stuff, and lots of the moms being moms and moms being partners/lovers/wives to one another. The characters will retain their original "selves" as much as possible. I will also make references to my "Winding Road" story, because this AU veers off the original timeline beginning with the very, very end of Metropolis._

_A couple of warnings: I have a fair amount written, but I don't have an ending in mind. I'm not planning on writing this on a whole separate timeline for the next four or five years, so I will end it, but the Fosters "story" won't be over, if you get my meaning. Depending on how season 2 ends, it may dovetail nicely into that, I just don't know. I will not abandon the story, that I can assure you. For those of you thinking about __The Winding Road__ and __Moving Ever Forward__, they aren't abandoned either, but because they are one shots, the series could end at any point and still be complete. Oh yeah, There's also going to be swearing and adult situations especially of the lesbian variety._

The whole house was still and crickets could be heard from the partially open windows. It should have been calming, but all Brandon felt was restless. He stared at the ceiling, not even able to summon the energy to grab a book which at the least, would have distracted him. He looked at the shadows, remembering the game Lena had taught him, how much it had made him laugh, how much it had made him feel safe and warm and loved. It wasn't that things had changed in an instant. He could recognize now that he had been changing things for weeks, but the look in his parents' eyes, the anger, the disappointment…the disillusionment - that had been in an instant. Mom and Mama, when he had admitted to the ID incident, although there had been mostly confusion and the faint disbelief that had undercut the worst of the disappointment. Mom and Dad, when he had finally admitted everything, sitting in a holding cell, something he never even dreamed that could happen to him. He had sat there, admitting in a low voice to things he knew they hadn't believed him to be capable of, shame clouding his voice and anxious…so anxious to make them understand. They hadn't understood and in replaying everything that happened, he didn't really understood either. He had been stupid and he had made stupid decisions, and now he was paying for them. He had been in the holding cell for less than three hours, but it had been a dazed three hours. Everything felt unreal and far away. His mom had picked him up from the station, refusing to let him return to his dad's house for his clothes. He had been sent to his room and pretty much forbidden to leave for the last week, arrest and he had been grateful for it, even though the smiles weren't directed at him. When they found out Callie couldn't be adopted, the smiles fell off everyone's faces, like they knew that it had been too good to believe in, that happiness was always going to be just out of reach for her. It had been Callie, beautiful, stubborn, loving, Callie that had returned their smiles to them, like a gift…a promise. She gave Jude the day, telling him she would have her own soon. Everyone had watched as Jude looked at her, in that deep, old-man way he had, looking into her soul to see if it was the truth. And what he found must have comforted him, because on that day, there was no happier kid then Jude Adams-Foster. Seeing him had made Brandon feel choked up in a way that the twins adoption hadn't. By the time the twins were adopted, they were his siblings in every way, he _knew_ they would be a part of the family forever. The piece of paper just made it official. Even though the adoption had been made difficult by Ana's near constant interferences and back-sliding, Brandon hadn't doubted they would be a family. Now he knew it was because his little-kid belief had hinged on his moms promise, they would be a family, no matter what. But he was sixteen now, and he knew things didn't always work out the way you wanted them too, not even when you were a good person, and not even if you were doing the right thing. Sometimes the world just sucked. Seeing Jude, absolutely radiant with happiness…that was something to believe in, that was something to see, and even the most selfish, low part of him wanted that for Callie, because that was what she deserved.

Neither he, nor Vico had actually been expelled, but being suspended from school had been it's own kind of agony, because none of his parents trusted him on his own. Both his moms had taken alternate days off, days they should have taken for vacation time but had to waste on his stupid self. When he finally returned to school, Vico's smoldering looks promised more payback but he was too full of self-loathing to worry about it. When school ended he went to Lena's office to do his homework in the chilly silence of the room. He recognized the personal betrayal of his actions, but every time he tried to apologize, Lena would raise her hand and say, "I'm not ready to talk about it, Brandon," and he would stutter to a stop, tongue-tied and miserable because he was beginning to think she might never forgive him. And now he had court tomorrow. He was terrified that the judge would decide he needed to go to juvie. He knew the idea was in Callie's head too because there were times when she would look at him, bite her lip, then look away again. Probably imagining him getting the crap kicked out of him, he surmised, and probably rightly so. He tossed in his bed again, wishing he hadn't forsaken the right to go to his mothers for comfort, knowing at the same time there wasn't comfort to give. He had to deal with the consequences of his actions, there was no way around it. He closed his eyes, wishing there was a way to go back in time, wishing he had made the right decisions, wishing he could go back to who he was and who his parents believed him to be. He closed his eyes and dreamed of simpler times.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Not even Lena's soothing touch brought Stef anywhere in the vicinity of sleep. She was tossing so much that she would have exiled herself to the couch had she also not known, by Lena's breathing, that her wife was as awake as she was.

"You need to sleep sweetheart," said Lena softly, her fingers refusing to cease their soothing motion.

"I can't believe how stupid I was," Stef's voice was thick with self-loathing.

Lena sighed, "You didn't really have a choice hon."

"I did have a choice. I could have told Charlie to lose the paperwork, told him we'd deal with Brandon ourselves, but instead I got him into the system. But that was before I knew…before he said…when we found out he bribed Ana…," Stef paused and took a breath, "I never, ever thought he would be that irresponsible."

"Brandon needed a wake-up call," Lena's voice was steady but her tone still showed she was trying to convince herself. "He was heading down a dangerous path. Going to jail scared him. Having to go to go to court will make him recognize the severity of his actions."

"What about no fear-based parenting?" Stef asked, her sarcasm directed at herself. She felt Lena shrug under the covers, and turned to face her. She saw a sheen of tears in her wife's eyes. "Oh love," she whispered, cupping her face. Lena had been so strong, so supportive. She had been there every time Stef had broken down. Stef knew things were affecting her too but she had been so engrossed in her misery and worry that she had pushed it to the side.

"I'm afraid for him," Lena said quietly. "He made such bad decisions. The teen years are time for experimentation but it worries me that he made bad decision after bad decision. He didn't stop, even after he recognized how bad things were getting."

"I know," Stef kissed the top of Lena's head. They lay together, consumed by their thoughts.

Finally Lena spoke softly, "He isn't going to jail Stef. The judge had already decided that this will be an informal proceeding."

Stef gripped her hand, this is where her thoughts been as well. "I know. I guess I'm just afraid she'll change her mind or something, that all of a sudden he'll be taken from us and he'll wind up and Chula Vista or something." She took another breath, bringing up her greatest fear in the situation, "If she finds out about Ana…it's a felony. I mean technically the ID making is too but the sentencing for that is really dependent on the judge but bribing a witness…that's a felony where he could be tried as an adult and if he gets a judge who wants to make an example of him he…," she closed her eyes, imagining her baby in jail. She felt nauseous and she lay there, nearly trembling with anxiety.

"Stef!" Lena repeated firmly, turning her face towards hers. "It's an informal proceeding tomorrow. The judge doesn't know about Ana and he's not going to know. Brandon will see the judge, probably get a lecture and community service and that's it. Honey, you know this. You do." she looked deeply at her lover, willing her to believe her, needing her to believe so that she could too, without hesitation. "The juvenile system is overflowing right now. They are not going to put a kid like Brandon in detention, not when he has so much going for him."

Stef nodded slowly. "You're right, I know you're right," she breathed the words out softly. "After the hearing tomorrow, when he's back home…then we kick his butt, right?" she said, trying to make a joke.

"Yes," said Lena. They hadn't wanted to tell Brandon his punishment until finding out what would be decided in the proceeding but both of them felt strongly about more punitive measures against their son.

Stef chuckled sadly, "Remember when he was ten?"

"I know he does," Lena said, snuggling into her side.

"Last time I spanked him," Stef said, tracing designs lightly on her lover's arm. "And I remember thinking, 'this is the most angry I'm going to be.' That was really naïve, wasn't it?"

"Not naïve," said Lena trying to be kind, "Hopeful maybe?"

Stef shook her head, "I should have listened to my mother."

"About what?"

"She told be little kids have little kid problems and big kids have big kid problems. And I was like, 'of course, Mom,' but I didn't really understand it. I do now. I mean, there are exceptions but little kids have little kid problems, and we solve them by picking the kid up or giving them choices, or distracting them, or time-outs and bam! they're done. But big kids have big kid problems and we have to watch their hearts break and make stupid choices and deal with real life consequences and we don't just have one kid we have five – six and we have to go through it with all of them!" Stef's eyes widened and her hand stopped it's soothing ministrations, gripping her lover's upper arm instead, "Lena seriously, I don't know if I can handle that!"

"You can handle it," Lena promised. "We can handle it," she said, she let her hand travel to Stef's face and smoothed away the worry wrinkles.

"Yeah," Stef sighed, wondering for the millionth time how her heart could be filled with joy and sadness at the same time. She took Lena's hand and kissed the palm, holding in to her face, then gently letting it go. She let her own hand travel down to Lena's stomach, and cupped it there. "At least this little nugget will only have little kid problems for awhile. That would be a nice change."

"I'll remind you of that when she's teething at 2am," Lena teased, a pleased smile on her face.

"You've been reading your books again," said Stef with mock disapproval.

Lena gave her an endearing lopsided grin and pulled her arm around her. "Our kids are going to be fine. They'll hit rough patches, but that's only going to make them stronger. They are going to grow up and be amazing adults."

"Yeah," whispered Stef, tears pricking at her eyes.

Curled up together, the women fell asleep within minutes, and the sound of peaceful breathing filled the house.


	2. Court

_Oh , look. An update. The third part of the story will be out next week. Tuesday if I'm happy with Monday's episode – otherwise I'll be curled into a small ball in the corner._

_Anyway, thanks to those who have taken the time to review, much appreciated._

"What do you think's going to happen Callie? I mean, you've been through this before."

"Jesús!"

"What! It's not an insult if it's the truth!"

"I don't know what's going to happen," Callie interrupted the twins bickering. "It's up to the judge."

"But Brandon…he won't…he won't go to jail like you did," Mariana blustered a little, "I mean, Moms said…" she trailed off when she saw the worry lines deepen on Callie's forehead.

"I don't know Mariana," Callie admitted quietly, "but I don't think so," she went on to reassure her. "I'm almost positive he won't."

Mariana looked pensive, but Jesús shrugged, "He won't," he said firmly, giving Callie a little glare. "That's not going to happen. They'll just make him pick up trash or something."

Callie bit her lip and refused to say anything more. She didn't want to worry the twins and even thinking about it made her stomach churn. She was happy when Lena interrupted them, "Are you guys eating?" Mumbled affirmations greeted her question. "Where's Jude?"

"He's just finishing up in the bathroom," Jesús said.

"Alright. You guys need to eat quickly and get going to school. I don't want you to be late, especially you, Jesús. If you get another tardy you're grounded."

"Okay," said Jesús, a little subdued. Their moms had not been in the greatest of moods this past week, apparently deciding that they had been too lenient with all their kids, and had doubled down on the disciplining.

"C'mon Jude, love, let's move," said Stef, pushing the younger boy a little as she hurried him in front of her into the kitchen. She tripped over a backpack as she went to get her coffee. "Jesús!" she barked, without even looking down to verify the accused.

"Sorry, sorry!" Jesús said, grabbing it quickly.

"It must have fallen from the chair," Mariana rushed to defend her twin, "He didn't leave it on the floor."

"So he couldn't take the time to put it there properly?" Now Stef was glaring at her daughter.

"Umm," Mariana began.

"Stef," Lena sighed.

Stef frowned a little, then sighed as she went to get her coffee. She looked at her watch. "You guys need to get going, I don't want you to be late." She looked at her watch again, impatient, "Brandon!" she yelled towards the stairs.

The teens exchanged looks and began to gather their things. It would probably be safer if they were out of the house. Callie waited by the stairs as she watched the rest of the kids gather their things. Brandon came down the stairs slowly, dressed impeccably in a charcoal suit. He looked pale and nervous. She lay her hand quickly on his arm, "It'll be okay Brandon." He looked at her, unbelieving. "It will," she said.

He shook his head a little, "Thanks," he said tonelessly.

"Callie," Stef's voice was a touch gentler then she used with her other children, "You need to get going."

"Okay. Um, bye," she said.

"We'll see you later love," said Stef, reaching out to tug Brandon down the rest of the stairs. He pulled away a little, then headed for the kitchen.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Do you think Moms will ever ease up?" Jesús asked after they were safely a block away from the house.

Mariana shrugged and nibbled on her lower lip, "Not if Brandon's in jail."

"Man, why did Brandon have to be so stupid?" Jesús complained, "He's ruining everything."

"Shut up," said Mariana, giving him a shove. "You better not say anything like that around Brandon."

"Hey, you were the one yelling about him after the whole Callie thing."

Callie and Jude exchanged glances. Mariana looked at them too, "That was different," she informed her twin. "Brandon was being stupid and he wasn't even sorry. He's sorry now."

"The Callie thing?" asked Callie.

"When Brandon kissed you," said Jesús.

"We actually, we actually kissed each other," said Callie a little flustered. Jude was scowling at her and she felt old fears flutter in her stomach.

"You had more to lose," said Mariana flatly. "You knew that and so should Brandon. He was being dumb and stubborn," she turned back to her twin. "Brandon did a stupid thing but he knows that. If you keep it up, he's just going to feel worse. Mom, and Mama, and Mike are already reaming him. Just leave him alone," her tone was protective.

Callie looked at her, a little surprised. Mariana looked back, reading the surprise easily. "What? You're the only one that can look after your brother?"

"No, I just…" Callie floundered a little. Truthfully she hadn't seen that side of Mariana in regards to Brandon. Maybe it was because he hadn't seemed like he needed protecting.

"He's my _brother_," said Mariana, "We look after each other," she looked around at the rest of the group now.

Jude smiled and tucked his hand briefly into hers, "Yeah," he said.

Mariana looked at Callie, "Yeah," Callie agreed softly.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The chairs in the waiting area outside the court were crappy. Brandon shifted for the hundredth time as he tried to concentrate on his Algebra homework. Furtively he looked up to gaze at the kids and families around him. There was a range of emotions on peoples' faces, but most seemed to settle on sullen anger. Fear was another common look. Most of the kids were sitting moodily on chairs just as uncomfortable as his, punching at their phones, playing games on handheld devices, or staring moodily into space. Some of them talked to their parents…or foster parents…or whomever the adult was with them, but most were silent. As far as he could tell, he was the only one doing homework. Not that he really had a choice. He solved another equation, then looked at his mothers. Lena was trying to work on her laptop, but her pace was unnaturally slow. Stef was going through some paperwork of her own, but she'd often stop and stare at the paper for long minutes, pen tapping in an unnatural rhythm. He looked at his homework and sighed. He probably wasn't going to get credit for the work he did while suspended, so he needed to make sure his current work was near perfect, otherwise it would screw up grade point average, just another bad mark in his books.

"Your dad's going to be here in twenty minutes," said Stef looking up from her phone after it had beeped softly.

Brandon felt his heart drop a little. The last time he had seen his dad was in the holding cell and their only conversation had been a searing lecture that had ended with, "I have never been more disappointed in you." He swallowed hard. "How long do we have to wait?"

Stef sighed, "Hours, most likely. Sometimes they get so backed up you have to come back the next day."

"But the notice said the hearing was today!" said Brandon, upset, knowing that his parents had to take time off from work. What would happen if they had to keep doing that?

"Do you see all these people, Brandon? They've also been told their hearings are today. That's how the system works," Stef said.

"It's a stupid system," Brandon muttered.

"Well that's what happens when you _screw up_," said Stef, glaring at him.

"Stef," Lena warned, as Brandon blinked hard and looked down.

Lena reached over to stroke Stef's forearm gently, feeling the tension there. Stef looked at her and tried to smile, but failed. She needed to get some space or some air or something. She stood abruptly, "I'm going-I'm going to get some water. Do you guys need anything?"

"Water would be great, thanks," said Lena.

Brandon shook his head and looked at Lena as his mom walked away. "I'm sorry," he mumbled for what felt like the hundredth time.

Lena sighed, her face softening a little. "We know that Brandon," she sighed again, looked down at her computer, then back up at him. "We'll get through this." Her own tension made her unable to comfort him properly. What she hoped was going to happen and what actually was going to happen were out of her control. Her anger at his actions was buried now by the concern she felt over his future. She always thought of her family as strong, that they were raising good citizens, good people. But something like this…it could ruin her son, a person she had always taken great pride in and loved deeply.

Brandon looked back down at his homework, working through the last of the problems. A bottle of cold water was thrust into his hands, "Here you go, baby," Stef said, her voice more gentle then it had been.

"I said I didn't want any," Brandon replied, looking at the water bottle. He was pretty sure it was the first time his mother had called him something other then his name since his "incident".

"I want you to have some," Stef said, she touched his hair gently, and sat beside Lena, making sure to open it before giving it to her.

"Thanks," said Brandon softly.

When Stef sat beside her, she seemed a little calmer. Lena drank the water, then reached for her wife's hand. They had been doing that a lot lately. Both of them were having trouble with the whole talking thing, maybe because worry and anger clouded their daily thinking, but the touch both grounded and reassured them. It was okay if they didn't talk for awhile, but holding hands, kissing, hugging, that had become their touch-point, a measure of where they were emotionally, and right now they needed that more than anything.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mariana plopped down in the seat beside Callie. "Have you heard from Moms yet? Is Brandon okay?"

Callie shook her head, "No, sorry. They're probably doing a lot of waiting though. They probably haven't even seen the judge."

"But the court paper thing said 10:20!" said Mariana. "It's already 11:00!"

"They'd be lucky if they only had to wait an hour," said Callie. "Pretty much all the time it's longer."

"That sucks."

"It's the system."

"The system sucks," Mariana looked sulky as she played with the edges of her bag.

Callie poked her a little, "Aren't you going to eat?"

Mariana sighed, "Yeah, fine. I guess." She pulled her food out of her bag and began rearranging it neatly.

"Hey, you guys hear anything about Brandon?" Jesús asked as he jogged up to them. Both girls shook their heads. "Crap." He stood for a moment, arms folded as he looked at the ocean. Then – "I'm hungry." He made a grab for Mariana's fruit salad, only to have her try and stab his hand with her fork. "Geez Mariana!"

"Stay away from my lunch."

"I forgot to pack mine," he said pathetically "And Moms forgot to remind me 'cause they were all worried about Brandon."

"Not my problem," Mariana shrugged, "And I don't have any money today so don't bother asking."

He looked at her for another few seconds, then turned to Callie and aimed puppy dog eyes at her. "Fine," Callie sighed and she unrolled a five dollar bill from her pocket.

He grinned at her, "You're the best sister ever," he said, aiming a smirk at Mariana as he stole carrots from Callie.

"You better train him out of that," Mariana warned her as he dashed away, "otherwise he'll be stealing food off your plate for the rest of our lives. Every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, until we're old and gray."

Callie laughed a little, the prospect of having a family for that long not only appealing but comforting as well. "I think I'll manage." She caught Mariana's eye as it travelled again to the table where Kelsey and her cronies were seated. "What?"

Mariana shifted a little, "I've always thought of myself as a person who had lots of friends. I mean, when I was little I was really shy but after I met Lexi, it got a lot better. We were friends with lots of girls. But since she's been gone," Mariana's voice quivered a little, "it's like she was my good luck charm. People, girls who I thought were my friends don't hang out with me."

Callie gave her a friendly nudge, trying to distract her, "Well what am I? Chopped liver?"

Mariana sighed and actually rolled her eyes, "Duh, you're my sister. That's different."

It was two times in less than ten minutes that the twins had referred to her as their sister. It made her feel warm and protectively fierce. It wasn't exactly the same as Jude, but it was getting closer. She cleared her throat a little, "Yeah, you're right. What do you want to do about it?"

Mariana shrugged, looked around the rest of the groups, and traced an invisible line down the table. "I don't know. I was thinking…maybe of joining the dance team."

Callie realized her mouth was open a little and closed it abruptly, "The dance team?" she asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I've seen them and it looks pretty fun. I like dancing. The girls hang out together a lot," Mariana looked up from her imaginary picture. "What do you think of them?"

Callie hesitated. She wanted Mariana to be happy but she was afraid she was going to get hurt. "They remind me of the girls from that movie Mean Girls," she said bluntly.

Mariana looked hurt, "They aren't!"

"Mariana, they…I just think…" Callie tried to gather her thoughts.

"Have you seen them do anything mean?" asked Mariana, a serious expression on her face.

"No," Callie sighed, knowing where this was going.

"Have you heard about them being mean?"

"No."

"So…" Mariana waved her hands impatiently.

"It's just a feeling Mariana. I can't explain it very well."

"Well maybe your feeling is wrong. That's happened before." It wasn't Mariana's intention to be snotty but Callie felt a little stung by the statement.

"Yeah. Fine. You're right," said Callie, she began stuffing the trash from her lunch back into the sack.

"I'm sorry," Mariana said, grasping Callie's wrist briefly. "I didn't mean it like that. I just-" she sighed a little. "Don't you get lonely Callie? I'm lonely. I want friends to hang out with and talk about stupid stuff with and try make-up on together and shop for clothes. I miss that. I can talk about the serious stuff with you, but I want to do other girly stuff sometimes too," Mariana looked at her, "Did I hurt your feelings?"

"No," Callie shook her head. "Well, a little," she admitted when Mariana refused to look away, "but I understand what you're saying."

"Are you lonely?"

"Not really. Sometimes. I guess I don't need a lot of friends. If I have a few that I can trust, that makes me happy."

"Well, since four out of your five _friends_ are your siblings, maybe you should find a couple more," Mariana teased gently.

"Oh-ho, is _that_ the way its going to be?" Callie chuckled, giving into the urge to tickle the other girl's rib cage lightly.

Mariana squealed a little, then looked around, mortified. "Callie!" she hissed.

"Sorry _little sister_," Callie said, "I couldn't resist."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Brandon's lawyer came about a half an hour after his dad and Larry the lawyer insisted on talking to him alone (which none of his parents were happy about), then together, where his parents asked rapid fire questions which belied the fact that they had already talked to the lawyer several times about much of the same things. They were nervous, Brandon realized, and that made him even more scared. When they were told by a court clerk that they would be seeing another judge, the fear became bigger.

"Judge Kathryn Barton?" Stef turned to the lawyer, "What do you know about her?"

"She's good," Larry said, "Fair." He looked at Brandon reassuringly, "This isn't a bad change Brandon."

"Okay." Brandon looked at his parents. His moms were exchanging Meaningful Glances which meant they were saying a whole lot without actually opening their mouths. Dad was looking a little worried, but gave Brandon a reassuring look when he saw him looking at him.

They were allowed to go get some lunch since the whole court would be in recess for an hour. Lunch was stilted and nobody ate much. Brandon didn't really want to eat anything but the warning glances his mom gave him made him eat at least half of his sandwich. It was kind of like being six again, when he really wanted to go play so he didn't want to eat and his mom would make him eat another few bites, then another few bites until a good amount of food had been put away. The thought made him smile, ever so slightly, until he looked at the strained faces of his parents. No, this really wasn't the same at all.

A couple hours, later they were in a courtroom. Although it was a juvenile hearing, and therefore closed to the public, there seemed to be a lot of people there. The judge was actually kind of small, but her bearing was so imposing that Brandon didn't realize that until the proceeding were done. Hearing his crimes listed was intimidating, and the judge's eyes remained on his while they were read.

"You Honor," said Larry, standing to be heard better, "Brandon has made some mistakes in the past few weeks, but this is a aberration in a long history of impeccable behavior. His mother Stefanie Adams-Foster and father, Michael Foster are both officers in good standing with the San Diego Police department. His stepmother, Lena Adams-Foster is the assistant vice principal of his school, Anchor Beach. They are all upstanding members of the community. Brandon has a 3.8 grade point average in school, and is taking some advanced classes. He is involved with clubs and organizations within his school and is a talented pianist that has recently been accepted into the Youth Symphony. He has never been in any trouble with the law and has no disciplinary actions in his school records."

"I see there was a restraining order put into effect last month, issued by his parents, in regards to a girl, Callie Jacob?" the judge asked, looking over the tops of her glasses.

Lena moved her hand to meet Stef's. Stef gripped her hand tightly. Dammit, she was afraid that would come back on them. It was amazing that within all the worry and fear about the outcome, there was also embarrassment. It was _embarrassing_ to have to be in court because your child had committed a crime. It felt like a horrible blemish, on what she had always thought of as a good parenting record. Where exactly had they gone wrong? At what point should they have done more, done something different? Lena shook those thoughts off and tried to concentrate on what was being said.

"Uh, yes ma'am, but that is no longer an issue. Callie is Stef and Lena's foster daughter and Brandon's foster sister," Larry said. "The family is in the process of adopting Callie."

"Mmm-hmm," said the judge noncommittally, clearly aware that something else was involved and waiting to hear more.

Brandon fidgeted a little, then stopped when he saw Lena looking at him, shaking her head a little.

Judge Barton, looked at Larry, and when no other information was forthcoming, looked at Brandon with piercing brown eyes. "Making fake IDs is a crime, young man."

"Yes ma'am, Your Honor," Brandon said.

"This isn't spray-painting your name on a wall or shoplifting a candy bar, which are also crimes but tend to be regarded as youthful indiscretions."

"No ma'am." Not like stealing a matchbox when your were five and having your moms make you go back to the store and apologize to the store manager who was as tall as a giant like in the fairy tales Mama would read at night.

"What do you think would have happened if one of the children who bought your IDs had drove drunk after buying alcohol, or drank to excess and was hospitalized?"

Brandon blinked at her. The thought hadn't occurred to him.

"Mr. Foster?" she prompted.

"They could have killed themselves or killed someone else," he whispered.

"And how would you have felt, knowing that your actions led to peoples' deaths, or being permanently crippled?"

Brandon felt his breath coming a little faster, praying that he wouldn't actually embarrass himself by crying, "I would have felt terrible. It would have been horrible, something I could never forget or ask their families to forgive." The thought made him feel sick.

Stef was relieved that he was finally beginning to see the possible impact of his decisions, how much worse things could have turned out, how bad things could have been if only one or two more bad choices had been made.

The judge leaned back a little and stared at him. "You seem like a young man who generally makes good choices. Do you know why you have made several poor ones recently?"

_Yes!_ Brandon shook his head, "No ma'am."

She looked at him, refusing to let him drop his eyes, "I suggest that you time to think about that in the upcoming weeks."

"Yes ma'am," he said quickly.

Judge Barton looked down at her papers. "I see no reason why not to keep this an informal proceeding. Do you know what that means Mr. Foster?"

"Yes ma'am, if I complete your requirements then this won't be on my record."

"That's correct," she looked at him again. "I'm going to assign four hundred hours of community service-"

"Your honor, isn't that a bit excessive? This is his first incident. Brandon has shown remorse and has a strong family unit to instill appropriate discipline," Larry protested mildly.

The judge leaned back again, a brittle smile on her face. "I think it's in the best interest of everyone if we keep this young man on the right path. One of the best ways to do that is to keep him busy. He will do four hundred hours of community service. He will perform them at the Eighth Avenue Community Center."

Lena felt Stef tense beside her. Both of them were nervous about where Brandon would be doing his community service. Unlike female juvenile offenders, many male offenders were violent, and the idea of their son being threatened on a weekly basis that was not something either of them wanted or quite frankly, would be able to accept.

The judge seemed to sense their unease because she looked at them, "The Eighth Avenue Community Center is an afterschool and weekend center for elementary aged foster children. The few volunteers they get specialize in certain activities to give them classes that their foster families would otherwise been unable to pay for," a small smile turned up the corners of her mouth, "I think Brandon would make an excellent addition as a piano instructor for the children."

The frown on Brandon's face relaxed. Four hundred hours was a lot, but teaching little kids the piano wasn't bad. He could do that. He nodded, "Yes ma'am," he said.

"I will also expect you to keep your grade point average high. No lower than a 3.7.," she went on.

"Yes ma'am." It's not like his parents would expect anything less, but it made the prospect of failing a test a little more intimidating.

"Driving?" this time the judge looked over her glasses at his mothers.

He looked at his parents and noticed his mom's mouth had flattened into a thin line. "Not for a long time," she said.

Brandon closed his eyes in frustration. It wasn't like he'd done anything wrong in the car, he just- he opened his eyes when he felt the judge's eyes piercing him. "Yes ma'am."

"And will that be something you can enforce?" This was directed back at his parents.

There wasn't any sarcasm in the judge's voice, or judgment really, but Stef could feel red creeping up her neck and into her face. The idea that she couldn't control her own children brought alternating waves of anger and shame. "Yes ma'am," she said both Lena and Mike echoing her tone.

Brandon winced, hearing the tone in his parents' voices. That tone meant definite trouble for him…and probably his siblings too. He should probably start apologizing to them…a lot.

"I don't see any reason so specify that in my requirements then," the judge said.

She looked back down, marked something on a paper. "I will be receiving reports from the community center and reports from the school." She looked up again, "If the reports are not good ones, then I won't be as lenient. Do you understand me Mr. Foster?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Okay. We're done then," she tapped the papers together as she placed them in a folder and murmured quietly to a court aide.

"Thank you ma'am," Brandon said, standing and straightening his coat automatically.

"You Honor," said Larry courteously, with a nod

"Thank you," said Lena, Stef, and Mike, the relief in their voices was palpable. They were done, for now.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Stef felt like she could finally breathe again when they left the courtroom. Granted the information about Ana could still come out but as the woman hadn't been seen since Brandon gave her the money, she was hoping she might just…fall off the planet or something. She felt Lena give her hand a little squeeze and turned to kiss her softly on the lips. "Thank God," she mumbled.

Lena arched an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean."

"I know."

They looked at their son, who was nervously clasping his hands. "I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry...about everything. I won't – nothing like this is going to ever happen again. I promise."

Stef nodded slowly. "I'm glad to hear that Brandon, but Mama and your dad and I still need to talk to you about your punishment."

Brandon's eyes dropped. He figured being grounded to his room for a couple weeks wasn't going to be his punishment and his mom's remarks about the car in the courtroom had promised more but there was a part of him that thought…maybe… "Yeah."

"Mike, could you meet us at the house? We'll get the rest of the kids to give us some space."

"Sure. I'll see you there in about thirty minutes."

Stef and Lena looked at one another. This was going to be an unpleasant conversation, one that was going to lead to multiple effects and strains on the family in general. Lena cupped her hand over her stomach where the new baby was growing. There was a cost for parenting. Most of it was your time, a lot of patience, taking the higher road when you really wanted to say what was exactly on your mind. But she knew truly, for herself and for Stef that they thought it was worth it. They would do what they needed to do. There was no choice in the matter. They were parents who believed they had the most important job - raising good kids, and come hell or high water, that's what they were going to do.


	3. Consequences

_Just to clarify in case it comes up: I do not "ship" (and how I am beginning to hate that word) Brandon and Callie in any romantic way. I would love to see the sibling relationship expanded on. Period. However, I also recognize the fact that two teenagers, both of whom are strangers, were not going to develop an instant "sibling bond". I can even applaud Bradley and Peter for exploring this type of situation. That being said, the moment adoption was introduced into their little budding romance, something should have been said. I'm trying to write the characters they way I believe they are being portrayed now (not the way I want them to act), that they are confused, and trying to sort out their feelings for one another. I really do think it's complicated by the fact that they like each other and began developing a pretty good friendship until it veered into romance. Then it got confusing…for both of them._

_Also, I'm dealing with my feelings about "Mother". I'm still really sad about it so…yeah. _

"They're back!" shouted Jude looking out the window, "And Brandon's with them," for all his early anger with Brandon, he was actually happy about that.

"Does he look okay?" Callie asked.

Jude shrugged.

"What happened?" Mariana practically tackled her moms and older brother when they entered the house. "Is everything okay? You're staying here, right?"

When his moms looked at him, Brandon realized they expected him to tell his siblings what was going on. "I have community service. Have to do good in school."

"That's not bad," Callie said cautiously.

"See, I told you he wasn't going to jail," Jesús punched his twin lightly and grinned at his brother.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you're okay?" Mariana looked anxiously at Brandon.

"He's fine," Lena interrupted them, "But Mom and I need to talk with Brandon so we need you guys to give us the living room for about an hour. You can go to your rooms, or go outside, but I don't want to bothering us for anything less that an emergency. Understand?"

Four nods greeted this declaration as they dispersed like cattail fluff. "Can I get changed?" asked Brandon.

"Yes. Be back down in five minutes please."

Brandon knew better then to dawdle over changing, but that didn't mean he wasn't tempted. He had a feeling he was not going to like what he would be hearing in the next hour. He changed into sweats, folding and refolding his suit on a hanger until he decided to hell with it, and threw it in his hamper. It probably stank of fear sweat anyway. He plodded down the stairs, noting he was the first one there. He found a place on the couch and settled into a corner, playing idly with the end of the blanket.

"Do you want anything to drink?"

Brandon looked up, startled from his thoughts, "Um no. No thank you," he corrected himself.

Lena settled onto the couch, beside him. "How are you feeling about the judge's decision?"

"Ok I guess. Four hundred hours is a lot but maybe I could do more in the summer and get done in less than seven months."

"Probably. Do you think it was fair?"

He looked at his mom out of the corner of his eye. Was this a trick question? "What I did was pretty bad, and she doesn't even know about Ana. Yeah, it's fair. It could have been a lot worse. She could have made it a lot worse."

Lena nodded. Stef entered the room with Mike and gently pushed her son over until she could sit on the other side of him. His dad sat in front of them. Stef took a breath. "Brandon, all of us know that you are sorry for what you did, and we know that you know what you did was wrong."

Brandon nodded.

"Now, we're not going to spend this time lecturing you because we've already done that."

Unbidden, Brandon looked and Lena from under his lashes. She hadn't talked to him about it yet, hadn't scolded him. He wished she would do it and get it over with. She frowned a little and shook her head which he took to mean to bring his attention back on his mom so he did.

"But we do need to talk to you about the consequences."

Brandon nodded again.

"I know the judge talked to you about what could have happened, had people had a chance to use those IDs more."

"Yes," Brandon mumbled.

Stef nodded, "We all know how badly you felt about that."

"And you should," said Mike. "The fact that no one got hurt is a miracle."

"We also know you're a good kid, and knowing something you did hurt someone or killed someone would have haunted you for the rest of your life," Lena said, touching his knee. "We would never, ever, want you to have to go through that."

Brandon looked down and nodded, not trusting his voice to speak.

"But it is something we want you to think about, to keep you from ever getting into that kind of situation again," said Stef. "We also need you to know how seriously we are taking this, and how incredibly disappointed we are in your behavior."

"There are going to be a lot of changes," Lena began. "We have not had any real reason to distrust you in the past. That's changed and now you're going to need to work doubly hard to regain that trust."

She let that sink in a moment, then Mike cleared his throat, "You're grounded for the next four months."

"This means no activities outside your community service, the youth symphony, and school. You can go with us when we do something as a family, but that is all," Stef said. "You won't be allowed to watch TV, use the computer, or play video games except if you get a specific dispensation. When you're at home, your cell phone will be confiscated and we're taking access to the internet off of it."

This was not unexpected. "I got it," Brandon said.

"On Monday and Wednesday, when the bell rings you will come to my office to do your homework. I will drive you to the community center, then pick you up at 5:30. That will give you the rest of the evening to practice piano and do homework. On Tuesday and Thursday you will also come to my office to do homework and then I will drive you to symphony practice. Mom will pick you up. The evenings will be the same."

"I want to spend some more time with you since you aren't living with me anymore," Mike was careful not to let bitterness tinge his tone. He didn't want Brandon to think he was trying to get back at Stef by taking another day with their son. "I'll be able to see you on Friday and Sunday evenings," said Mike.

Brandon assimilated this new schedule, then looked at his parents, "I need to do the community center on Saturdays too." They eyes indicated that he should continue. "That means I don't like, get any time off – or anything."

"And what do you need time off for?" Stef's voice was warning.

"Just to – just to relax or whatever," Brandon stuttered.

"The whatever part is what got you into trouble last time," Mike pointed out needlessly.

"You can relax on Saturdays when you've done your community service and your chores at home. You'll also have time when your homework and practicing are done on the weekdays. And its not like you're in complete lockdown when you spend time with your dad. I'm sure he's going to want to take you out."

"But -," he saw the looks on his parents' faces and swallowed. "The car?" he asked, when he thought he had steadied his tone.

"Not until sometime after you turn seventeen," his mom said flatly.

"Mom!" he said before he could stop himself.

She raised an eyebrow at him and her voice was like ice, "What?"

"That could be - I didn't – I haven't done anything bad with the car! I haven't got tickets or –"

"The car gave you freedom to get to the school and make fake IDs," Lena's voice was just as cold as his mom's and he didn't dare look at her. "You have shown to be irresponsible and make bad decisions. People who make bad decision should not get to drive a car. Until we know that you can make better ones, you will not be able to drive."

"We're also taking your license," said Mike. "Just in case you're ever tempted to borrow someone else's car."

Brandon bit his lip so he didn't say anything stupid again. "Is there anything else?" he had to work hard to keep any sarcasm from his voice.

"Yes. You are not going to stomp around and take it out on the family because you are being punished. You have the right to feel angry," Brandon cut his eyes at Lena because those were her words, he could tell, "But you absolutely don't have the right to take it out on the rest of us. You will be polite to Mama, your dad, and I. You will be civil with your siblings. You will eat with us and you will not isolate yourself from family activities."

"You can't _make_ me hang out with you guys!"

"You will have a choice in some cases, but you won't be allowed to avoid us all the time," Stef kept her voice as calm as she was able but it had raised an octave in response to her son's strident tone. "If you are rude, disrespectful, or break any of these rules or the regular house rules we will add to your grounding and you will be assigned extra chores."

Brandon glared at them and Lena could see the sheen of tears in his eyes. When he was younger, he would cry easily when he was angry or upset. It embarrassed him and when he became a teenager it happened less frequently. Lena was glad to see the tears here, because they were a reminder that the old Brandon was in there, no matter how much the more complicated teenager tried to subdue him.

"Fine," the word was resentful but with a weepy undertone. "May I go to my room now? Please?"

The three adults looked at one another. "Yes," said Lena quietly. "Dinner will be at 6:30."

"I'm not hungry." He had already started up the stairs.

"Then you'll sit down and _watch_ us eat," Stef's voice was deadly and uncompromising.

"Yes ma'am," he said, on the edge but not going over the line of insolence. He knew his mom wouldn't like being ma'amed, even though it was she and his dad that taught him about being respectful to those in authority. He managed not to stomp up the stairs but it was a near thing. So was slamming his door but he knew that would bring instant reprisal. He threw himself onto the bed and rubbed at his eyes, only allowing a few tears to escape. He was angry at his parents but almost as angry at himself. Really, what else had he expected? He screwed up. Badly. _Of course_ he was going to be in major trouble. _Of course_ they weren't going to trust him. How could he feel so guilty about what he had done but mad that they were punishing him for it? It didn't make any sense. _He_ didn't make any sense. He thought after the arrest it wouldn't be possible to hate himself more. He was wrong.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mike sighed as they watched their son go up the stairs. "Well," he said, "that went about as well as we expected it would."

Stef closed her eyes and leaned back into the couch, pressing an arm briefly over her eyes. She had yet to see many teenagers take a punishment with any real grace, even when they knew they deserved it. It was like a part of them believed that apologizing was enough, that they actually believed they had learned their lesson by just saying those words.

Lena lay her hand on her thigh and gave her a kind look. "You know he wasn't just mad at us, right?"

Stef opened her eyes and nodded, self-loathing had been permeating their son's presence for the past week and a half. She felt they were walking a thin line by making him aware of the consequences of his actions and letting him become enmeshed in the type of self-loathing that would lead to a spiral of hopelessness and desperation. She hoped they were doing the right thing, that this would put him back on the right path. She closed her eyes again. Maybe she even prayed a little.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Callie and Mariana just managed to tuck their heads back into their room before Brandon came up the stairs.

"He's pissed," Mariana stated unnecessarily.

"Yeah, I got that."

Jesús and Jude crept in through the bathroom, "Did you guys hear that?" asked Jesús.

"Yes," snapped Mariana. "Do you remember what I said about not giving Brandon a hard time?"

Jesús held up his hands in mock fear. Jude snuggled a little closer to Callie, "Moms are really mad," he said worriedly. "Do you think they'll stay mad at all of us?"

Callie felt that little half ache of happiness and sorrow when Jude called them that. "No," Callie said, running a reassuring hand over his hair, "They were just really scared about Brandon. Now that they know he's safe, they aren't going to be as mad."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

Jesús and Mariana were staring at her hopefully, and she suddenly felt the weight of being the oldest sister of their family. "It'll be fine," she told them all. "They'll get over it and Brandon will calm down, and everything will go back to normal. Promise." She was gratified when all of them looked relieved. And that was kind of true, right? She wasn't really lying. She read somewhere that saying something was the first step to making something happen. She'd just given her family the first step.

"I'm going to help Mama with dinner," Mariana said, standing up to do so.

"Do you wanna play that new game I got?" Jude asked Jesús hesitantly. "It's actually pretty cool. I think you'd like it."

"Sure," Jesús shrugged.

"I'll be down in a minute," said Callie as the boys exited the room and Mariana looked at her.

"Okay."

Callie straightened some of her books and clothing, then some of Mariana's things as well. She remade her bed until there were no wrinkles. She rubbed her hands against the sides of her jeans. Well, she had kind of been on a roll with this whole sister thing…She walked to Brandon's door and tapped it lightly. "Brandon? Can I come in?" She waited a few moments, then tried again. "Brandon?"

"I don't want to talk right now Callie," Brandon's voice was stiff, "Please go away."

She couldn't help but be a little hurt, even though she could admit to herself that she would want to be alone too. She let her hand rest lightly on the door, "Well, if you want to talk, y-you know where I am."

"Yeah."

Instead of sounding amused, like she had hoped, his voice just sounded weary. "Okay," she said quietly.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Lena sighed as she pulled her hair up so she could start making dinner. It had been an incredibly long day and the adrenaline rush she had been dealing with since the court hearing had settled into weariness. She began pulling food out of the refrigerator.

"Do want me to help with dinner?" asked Mariana from behind her.

Lena turned and was about to say yes when she say Stef heading towards them. She really wanted the chance to talk to her wife and decompress. "Not right now honey, why don't you go finish your homework?"

"Okay," Mariana gave her a brief hug, then did the same to Stef as she passed her.

"Well, thank you sweetheart," Stef said. "What was that for?"

"Just looked like you needed it," said Mariana as she left the room.

The mothers exchanged tired smiles. "Mike will pick up Brandon from your office after school on Friday. He has an early shift this week so that works out well. We'll have to figure out what we're going to do on the Fridays when he can't pick him up until later." Stef picked up a knife and began slicing vegetables for the salad.

Lena shrugged, "He may as well stay in my office. He'll always have projects to work on or a book to read. After awhile he may even earn the privilege of going to the music room to practice." She double-checked the recipe as she spoke, and added more herbs to the chicken she was preparing.

Stef raised a brow.

"Not right away, but maybe after awhile." A light dusting of shaved onions completed the dish and she stuck it into the oven. It wasn't particularly fancy, but it would do for tonight.

Stef nodded, "This is putting a lot of pressure on you sweetheart," she said. "I know we talked about it but hearing it all again today…it made me realize how much you're going to have to deal with. The driving alone is going to be a huge pain. Are you sure that…"

"Stef, it'll be fine. It's a bit of a commute but I can make some calls using the hands-free and when I get back to the school, there will be plenty of time to get things done. We'll split the rest of the kids' commuting as usual."

"I never thought I'd look forward to the day when our kids would be able to drive," Stef said as she dumped the vegetables into the bowl with more enthusiasm then artistry.

Lena laughed, "I know. There's a part of me that can't wait until Callie's off probation, just so we can get her licensed and put her to work."

"Of course," said Stef as she shook her head, "You realize that almost all of our kids will be able to drive in a year? That's probably going to give us more headaches. I take back my earlier statement."

Lena chuckled as she began sautéing vegetables, "Me too."

They worked in silence for a moment before Stef spoke again, "You're also going to be dealing with Brandon a lot. He's going to be in your office every afternoon and he's probably not going to be happy about it."

"Stef," Lena turned down the burner so she could face her wife in exasperation, hands on her hips, "I'm his mother too, I can deal with teenage sulkiness. He's been warned about being respectful. If he does make the mistake of trying to have an attitude with me, he'll regret it."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Stef held up her hands in surrender. "I wasn't trying to imply you couldn't handle it. I just feel badly that you are going to be dealing with so much of it. That's all."

Lena turned back to the vegetables, "It's fine hon. This is just the way it is. There's certainly no way you can be running back to the school and leaving Brandon at the precinct, you're out on call all the time. Besides, he and I have always done pretty well together."

"Yeah," Stef looked at her lover's back thoughtfully. "He's waiting for you to yell at him. That's got him all twisted up."

"I know. I'm going to let him stew for a bit longer. Right now he's just upset because I'm angry and disappointed with him. He needs to understand the precarious position he put me in and what that means for me. He needs to understand what _broken trust_ really means. Not just in what he's allowed to do, but what that means emotionally."

"You think he doesn't yet?" Stef asked curiously.

"No, because we have always trusted him Stef. We've had no reason not too, not really. Now that we've punished him, he has an abstract understanding of what that means, but in a daily kind of way? No. He doesn't get that yet. We need to make sure he does, so he can grow up to be the amazing man we know he'll be," Lena's voice held regret as well as determination.

Stef shook her head then walked over to curl her arms around Lena's waist.

"Stef!" Lena said, trying to make sure the oil didn't splatter of her lover's arms.

Stef turned Lena around and the burner off in one swift motion, "Have I ever told you what an amazing mother you are?"

Lena smiled fondly, letting her head tilt. "I think I've heard it. Perhaps on a Mother's Day or two."

"I mean it," Stef's voice was low. "When I fell in love with you, I fell in love with every part of you, but when I saw you with Brandon that time," she didn't elaborate, they both knew of when she was speaking, "I just thought…this is more than love or lust…this is life, and I want to spend every moment with this woman."

Lena leaned in and the kissed. It was a simple kiss, one performed over a thousand times but it was more then a ritual, it was a promise. Lena stroked a hand down Stef's face, "Thanks hon."

Stef kissed her palm, released her hand, then smiled, "I think those vegetables are a lost cause love."

"I know it," Lena sighed. "This is going to be one of those nights were I serve reheated frozen corn to our children. I may never forgive myself."

Stef rolled her eyes and kneeled down to address Lena's stomach, "Mama's a perfectionist, little one. Better get used to that now."

Lena raised an eyebrow in return, "And Mommy use to think macaroni and cheese from a box was real cuisine, but we've finally got her trained."

She patted Stef's head then laughed a little as she watched her wife thrust out her lip in a pout. "Touché."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

An hour after dinner, all the children were finishing, or pretending to finish, their homework while the moms enjoyed a peaceful glass of wine in the living room. The quiet of the upstairs was broken by wheedling tones. Callie looked up from her history book when she heard it again. She opened her bedroom door to see Mariana pressed close to Brandon's door. "Bra-andon," Mariana sang out. "C'mon open the door and talk to me."

Silence.

"Bra-andon."

Callie stepped back a little, closing the door slightly so she would remain unnoticed. Mariana had used this particular inflection only two times since she and Jude lived at the house, and only with Brandon. It was, she was beginning to realize, Mariana's "little sister" voice, and it never failed to make Brandon smirk fondly and drape an arm around his sister's shoulders.

"Brandon," this time Mariana's voice was lower, conspiratorial, "If you don't open the door, I'm going to start singing _Henry the Eighth _very, very loudly." She paused melodramatically, "_Off_-key!"

Silence.

_"I'm Henry the Eighth I am_

_ Henry the Eighth I am, I am _

_I got married to the widow next-"_

Every single note managed a level of discordance that made Callie wince and cover her ears. It's like Mariana had a special talent for distorting her voice.

The door opened suddenly and Mariana literally fell into Brandon. "Geez, Mariana. Shut up. Get in here or whatever but if you start singing like that again I'm going to kill you."

"You're the one that wouldn't open up when I asked nicely," she said with a toss of her hair as she walked in ahead of him.

"My G-d, you're annoying," sighed Brandon as he closed the door.

Callie frowned slightly as she heard the voices rise and fall in the other room in a long conversation. There was even a low chuckle she recognized as Brandon's in addition to Mariana's high, girlish giggling. The feeling of hurt returned. Brandon had let Mariana talk to him and not her. Brandon is?…was?…her best friend. But since he was her brother…going to be her brother…maybe that didn't count. Wyatt was her boyfriend. That was real. It was a good relationship too. Even though he had come off as a bit of a jerk when they first met, Wyatt had proved himself to be both sweet and loyal. He was her best friend at school and the one she spent most of her time with. But Brandon was the person she had confided in first, and the one she had told the most, besides Jude. He was the one she had first trusted in this family. It made their relationship…well it made it more complicated, that was for sure. That was changing though, and maybe that was best. She was finding she could trust Lena and Stef. They were the first adults since her mom that she felt she _could_ believe in. She had felt safest with Lena at first. Maybe it was because Lena had taken her from juvie, a place she felt less than human, and treated her like a regular kid, or maybe it was because of her openness when she told Callie she could trust them. It had been scary because the other woman seemed genuine and Callie felt a part of herself _wanted_ to believe her. Then there was Stef, who she didn't trust at all when they met. Stef was a cop and her eyes pierced through Callie so knowingly that she thought the other woman might be able to read entire life in one glance. Stef was tough, a little gruff, and frankly, a bit scary. But then the second night, Stef rescued her. She came in, guns blazing, yelling and so confident, that even clutching a trembling Jude in her arms, and feeling nearly nauseous from fright, she could feel the tiniest kernel of safety. Lena made her feel like she was worthwhile, and Stef was the one who actually told her she was. It was like they were the perfect team without ever actually talking about it. It was as magical as you could get in a world where such sort of fantasies were ridiculous. Not only was she beginning to trust them, she was beginning to love them, really love them. Mariana, who was practically a mortal enemy in the beginning, was now a…was a sister, in every sense of the word. So maybe her relationship with Brandon was changing, but did it mean they had to lose the closeness they had? Would that be better? If it was, why did the thought make her sad? She shook her head. She not only wanted this family, she needed it, and she would do everything in her power to help keep it strong.


	4. Threats

_Thanks for reviewing!_

Jude carefully unscrewed the lid to the jar of peanut butter. He had pretty much gotten use to the organic stuff that his moms bought. It was kinda oily and sometimes could be hard to spread, but he was now able to restrain himself from adding sugar to it. He made the sandwich neatly, managing not to spread the peanut butter over the ends of the bread so it wouldn't drip on his hands when he tried to eat it at lunch.

"Good morning baby," Lena said as she swept into the kitchen, evaluating what was in the refrigerator and the pantry in a single glance.

"Hey Mom."

"How come you're my earliest riser today?" his mother asked as she rapidly pulled out bread and various fruits to lay them on the counter.

"Dunno," he shrugged a little as he watched her, "just couldn't sleep anymore I guess."

She stopped arranging breakfast foods to look at him, "Anything Mom and I have to be worried about?"

He considered his emotions carefully, "I don't think so," he answered honestly. "I'm a little worried about the hearing. Do you think what my dad says will make a difference to the judge?"

Lena came around to touch his shoulder lightly, "that's what we are hoping for honey," she hesitated, "but if it doesn't, we'll still find another way. Callie's already a part of our family, we just need to make it official."

Jude looked at her steadily, "If we don't make it official, then she might not be able to be a part of the family, not totally."

Lena bit her lip. He was so much older then the twins and Brandon had been for their adoption, and even though they had jumped through more hoops with Ana then they had for Jude and Callie, and it had taken much longer, the children had believed them when they told them it was just a matter of time. Jude didn't have the luxury of this belief, and though he now had the assurance of his new family, he needed Callie as well. She knew that if they weren't able to adopt Callie, a part of Jude would always be adrift as well. "We will make it official," she said firmly, trying to suppress her own nascent worries, "your mom and I won't stop until Callie's adopted."

This time, a small grin broke through Jude's solemn demeanor, "that is something I totally believe in."

Lena's returning smile was gentle, "Alright then. Let's get breakfast started before your siblings get down here."

"Okay," he let himself be pulled into a hug and kissed on the head as he looked at the stairs. When he saw the tender look in his sister's eyes, he knew she had heard it too. Good. Now they both could believe.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mariana hesitated near the gym. Tryouts for the dance team would be next week and she needed to practice. Unfortunately, she wasn't completely sure on what types of dance she should be practicing. She eased into the gym, trying to walk quietly across the floor to the bleachers. She stopped after about five steps when it became obvious that her stealthiness was unnecessary. The music was incredibly loud and the girls were concentrating carefully on their moves. She sat on the bleachers, sorely tempted to take out some paper and begin taking notes. It certainly worked for school, she was almost always a straight A student. She began taking out a pencil but looked around again, nervously. It was bad enough that she wasn't sure what to do, should she really advertise it? She put her pencil back and turned her attention back on the dancers. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't even notice someone sit next to her.

"What are you doing?" The words weren't -quite– hostile, but the tone was certainly not friendly.

Mariana, however, leaned towards friendliness whenever she could, "Watching," she said simply. "They're really good."

"Yeah," the other girl, Jenna?, frowned a little. "You aren't actually…trying out, are you?"

"Well, maybe," said Mariana. Why was that such a surprise?

"But you…" the girl began, then seemed to change her mind, she pasted on a large, somewhat fake, smile. "Kaitlyn's my best friend."

"Ye-eah," said Mariana slowly.

"And I'm trying out," the smug look on the girl's face demanded an explanation.

"There's three spaces open," said Mariana reasonably. "Maybe we'll both get in," she tried to make her tone sound bright, but she was already feeling a little discouraged. This girl wasn't looking to be friends, what if the whole team was like that?

"Yeah, maybe," the girl angled her body towards the dancers, "or maybe you should find something else. Something a little more suited for you."

Mariana narrowed her eyes a little, "I think this might be it," she said, tilting her head a little, rising to the challenge that had clearly been delivered.

Jenna rolled her eyes and moved down several benches to create an ocean of space between them.

_Great._

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The family was quietly finishing dinner that night when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Jesús volunteered. When he came back, his steps were slower and a little frown of worry was on his face, "Moms there's a social worker here to see you."

Lena and Stef exchanged looks before looking at Callie. Callie was biting her lip and looking at her plate. Nearly simultaneously, they pushed their stools back and lay their napkins on the table. There was an ominous silence when they left. The other teens looked at one another before Jesús cleared his throat and tripped over his stool a little as he rushed to get up. The other kids followed a little more slowly.

"Hi," said Stef extending her hand slowly to the immaculately dressed woman standing on their doorstep.

"Hello," the woman responded with a professional smile. "I'm Alisha Yradis, Callie's new social worker."

Lena blinked, "Her new social worker? What happened to Bill?"

"Well, when Callie's status changed, Bill figured she'd be a lighter duty and needed to make room for more his more difficult cases."

"Okay. I guess I'm just a little surprised that he didn't notify us, Bill has been with us for a long time," Lena said.

"I'm sure he meant too. It's been a tough few weeks, there's a lot going on," Alisha replied, and I really just got Callie's file yesterday."

"What do you need from us?" Stef interrupted, her unease growing. "We're still working on Callie's adoption, we've contacted Donald and he's going to give testimony that should help our case."

"Mm-hm, I'm aware of that," her eyes shifted from the mothers and settled on the group of children. She offered a smile to Callie, "Hi Callie, I'm Alisha. I'm going to want to talk to you in a little bit."

"Okay," Callie's tone was significantly more nervous then Stef or Lena.

"I'm going to want to look around for a bit," said Alisha, turning back to the mothers. "You haven't had a real home visit for a month and it's my first time visiting so I'll want to see everything."

Stef nodded, hoping her body language wasn't displaying her reluctance, "of course, go ahead." It was one of her least favorite parts of being a foster parent, having her home poked through and judged by a stranger.

"Mama, can Jude and I finish our game from earlier?" Jesús asked, knowing that his mothers would want them out of the way while they talked, and their expressions plainly screamed that they needed to do exactly that.

"Sure babe," Lena said, watching as Alisha walked through the living room then towards the stairs. Jesús tugged at Jude, who didn't move until receiving a reassuring nod from Callie.

"Brandon, it's your turn for the dishes," Stef reminded him, trying to get the rest of their kids unclumped. Brandon nodded without speaking, but the look he gave Callie was full of worry.

"I've got homework," Mariana said after Stef gave her a meaningful look, following the boys to the living room.

Finally, Callie was left alone. Lena moved closer to her and held her hand briefly, as she gave her a reassuring smile, "This is just routine, sweetheart."

"It doesn't feel like that," said Callie, sensing as they did a certain stiffness in the social worker's demeanor.

Stef rubbed her back in a comforting motion, "Mama's right sweetheart. Just let the woman do her job. Everything will be fine."

Alisha reappeared in the doorway after about ten minutes, "Lena, Stef? You mind if I call you that? I need to talk to you please."

The women nodded, giving Callie nearly identical soothing smiles as they made their way into the kitchen. "Brandon, why don't you give us a few minutes," said Stef, noticing that Brandon had got about half-way through the dishes.

"Okay," Brandon shot them a concerned frown that was similar to Callie's.

Automatically, Stef and Lena took their usual seats at the kitchen table while Alisha took the seat that was usually Mariana's. She took out a netbook, and typed something swiftly as she looked at them, "so I understand that your adoption of Callie wasn't successful," she said, disregarding any small talk.

"That's right, but like I said, we've contacted her father as well as our lawyer and we think we have a good chance of solving the issue in the next month with his testimony," Stef said.

"Mm-hmm. Since the adoption has not gone through, we need to update her file and it's necessary that I do a thorough check."

"We understand that," Lena said, she folded her hands so she wouldn't tap her fingers.

"Unfortunately, I have already noticed several violations," Alisha said, fixing them with a cool stare.

"Pardon?"

"There is medication in non-secure storage. All medication, including natural supplements are to be in a locked container, the carbon monoxide detector is inactive, probably due to lack of batteries, and you only have one fire extinguisher, in the first story of your house. These are all safety issues."

Stef rubbed her hands on her pants, "we're sorry about that. We haven't had foster children for five years and we're probably a little rusty."

The other woman didn't seem appeased. "But you did choose to take in foster children and you should have reviewed the guidelines. Callie and Jude have been here for over two months."

"We take the responsibility of raising our children very seriously," said Lena, after another look at her wife, "but we are human, Alisha, and we made a mistake. We'll make sure to review the guidelines and fix the problems you mentioned."

Alisha pursed her lips and crossed her legs, "I have other concerns. When reviewing her file, I discovered that you took out a restraining order on your son from seeing Callie."

Stef inwardly cursed, that was the second time the restraining order had come up and she sincerely regretted leaving that particular paper trail. "That was a…misunderstanding that was resolved."

Alisha looked at her, clearly expecting her to continue but Stef said no more. She was afraid that adding any other information would complicate the situation. The social worker narrowed her eyes a little, "it seems to me like you decided you couldn't control your son and used the law to try and do it."

_Zing_. That was uncomfortably close to the truth. Lena cleared her throat, "I can understand how you might think that, but I can assure you, that is not the truth." She also avoided adding any other information.

"Look, you might disagree with some of the choices we've made with our children," said Stef getting a little impatient, "but-"

"Callie isn't yours," Alisha said bluntly.

"I beg your pardon?" Stef blinked. Lena drew in a short breath.

"Callie is not your child. She is not your daughter. She is a ward of the state which means that she is under our protection and jurisdiction."

"We're in the process of adopting her-" Lena began.

"I understand that, but at this time you are not her parents, and if any harm were to come to her it would come back on the department, which in turn could lead to lawsuits which could lead to less money to care for the other children who need it. I am not going to let that happen. You both seem like nice people, but I want you to know that if I continue to see violations, or if I see other things that concern me, I will remove Callie from the house. She is my priority."

"She's a priority to us too," Stef could hear her voice shake. "We love her very much. She belongs with us."

"I know that's what you think, but I'm not positive that's what's best for Callie. I'm going to schedule another visit in two weeks to make sure that the violations were taken care of," she added a few notations on her netbook, and looked at them with piercing brown eyes, "we can talk more then."

Automatically, without even looking, Lena and Stef clasped hands. Lena felt the flutter of nervousness and saw the look of stunned alarm on Stef's face which was turning rapidly to anger. She squeezed her lover's hand tightly, hoping she wouldn't say anything that could be taken the wrong way by this incredibly self-possessed woman in front of them. Stef took a deep breath and nodded. "We understand," said Lena, not breaking eye contact with Alisha.

Alisha nodded, "Alright, I'm going to talk to Callie now. I'd like to speak with her privately, in her room please."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Callie exchanged a look with Brandon and they rapidly moved from the stairway to their respective rooms. Callie's instinct to run had been triggered by the social worker's words. The only thing that kept her there was Brandon squeezing her hand. In her room, she fumbled with a schoolbook, opening it and a notebook to look like she was working. She heard a light tap on the door, Stef's knock, and she tried to steady her voice, "come in."

Stef gave her a too-bright smile as she poked her head around the door. "Hey sweetheart, Alisha wants to talk to you for a little bit. Mama and I are going to finish cleaning the kitchen, okay?"

"Okay," said Callie softly, sitting up and closing her books.

Alisha smiled and pulled a chair over to sit in front of Callie and Stef closed the door. "How are you doing tonight Callie?"

"Great," Callie blurted immediately, losing some of her cool, "I love it here."

"It seems like a very nice home," said Alisha agreeably. "How's the food?"

"Great," said Callie again, trying to restrain herself from folding her arms. She knew what this lady was going for, "We eat three times a day and I can pretty much snack whenever I want. Lena and Stef buy all sorts of healthy stuff, lots of fruits and vegetables."

"Well that's good to hear. How are you doing in school?"

"Fine. It's a tough school, the hardest I've been too but I keep up, and Lena's helps me whenever I have a hard time with the assignments," Callie clenched her fingers on her bedspread, the one she had picked out when Stef and Lena decided she should be able to decorate her part of the room.

"Your progress reports show that you are doing very well Callie, you should be proud of yourself," Alisha leaned forward a little trying to establish a connection with her charge.

"Thank you," try as she might, Callie couldn't take the tautness out of her voice. She wanted this woman to go away and leave her alone, leave her with her family. The thought that she had the power to take her away from the Fosters scared Callie so badly that she was having trouble concentrating on the conversation. "What?" she asked, after realizing that the woman must have asked her a question.

"I asked how you're getting along with your foster siblings."

"Great," this time Callie did fold her arms, "everyone's amazing."

Alisha eyed Callie, then seemed to sigh, "You don't have to be upset Callie, everything' going to be fine."

"You know, I'm kind of tired of people saying that to me," Callie blurted, "especially when it's not true," her fingers curled involuntarily into a fist.

"I know it's hard Callie, I was in the system too, but I've looked at your records and information and I can tell that you're a strong girl. You are going to do fine," Alisha didn't want to scare the girl, but she could tell by Callie's posture that she already had.

_Then let me stay,_ Callie begged with her eyes. "I'm doing fine because I have Jude and Stef and Lena and Mariana and Jesús and Brandon," she said.

Alisha nodded, "okay. I believe you. I'm glad you're doing so well. We'll talk again in a couple of weeks. I'm going to leave you my card and if you have any trouble, I want you to call me," she handed the teen a slim beige card with her name embossed in black lettering.

"Okay," said Callie, childishly crossing her fingers behind her back as she used the other to take the card.

The social worker nodded, a world of understanding in her eyes. "Alright then. I'll see you later," she gathered up her netbook, which she ostensibly did not take notes on as she spoke with Callie, and headed for the door.

"Bye," Callie grabbed her schoolbook, opened it again and picked up her pencil. She watched Alisha from the corner of her eye. When the other woman opened the door, Callie breathed a sigh of relief. She could feel the tension coiling in her stomach as fear crept up her limbs. She closed her eyes, "Not again," she whispered, "not again, not again, not again."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

When his dad picked him up for dinner on Friday, the last person Brandon expected to see was Dani. He actually stopped in the doorway, and looked at his father, confused. His father shook his head, and indicated that they weren't going to talk about it right then.

"Hi Brandon. I fixed comfort food tonight," said Dani brightly, "meatloaf and mashed potatoes. You like those, right?" she was dressed casually in sweats, wearing his dad's old USN t-shirt.

"Yeah," said Brandon, lowering his backpack to the floor. He looked at his dad again.

"Did you get the movie, Mike?" asked Dani, turning to stir something in a pot.

"Aw, crap, I was in such a hurry I forgot. Let's go get it B," said Mike sighing heavily as he grabbed his keys again.

Brandon followed his father out the door, feeling Dani's eyes on him. "I thought you, you know, broke up with her."

"I did," said Mike, backing up the car quickly while checking for other cars and pedestrians, "but I came to realize that she just made a mistake. It was a big mistake yeah, but it's not unforgivable. I've made mistakes too. Luckily I've had friends and family that loved me enough to give me a second chance," he tousled Brandon's hair a little. "That's made all the difference."

"You aren't…still mad at her?" Brandon asked, fiddling with the seatbelt as they sped along.

"Oh, I was pretty mad at her for awhile," Mike admitted, changing lanes with smooth alacrity. "I don't know if you know this B, but you old dad's been kind of having a hard time these last couple weeks."

"I know," said Brandon softly, looking out the window at the passing cars. Is father had looked haggard and…._hungover_….not well, in the few times he had seen him.

"I kind of hit a tough spot, and Dani was there for me. Even though we'd been fighting, she chose to be there for me. It meant a lot to me."

"Are you okay now?" asked Brandon, knowing that the tough spot most likely involved alcohol.

Mike nodded thoughtfully, "I am Brandon. I really am. And I know you're getting back on track too. I'm glad to see that. I know you can make me proud again."

"I want to," said Brandon. "I really do, Dad."

"I know. So I want you to be nice to Dani. She made a mistake, so did you. We can move past this."

"Okay."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mike disappeared to the bathroom after dinner, and Dani glanced over to where Brandon was doing the dishes, on Mike's command. "How are you doing?" she asked.

Brandon shrugged, concentrating on removing the remnants of food from the plate, "I'm as good as I can be, I guess. I'm in a lot of trouble with my parents."

"I know that feeling," Dani sighed, "Your dad was pretty mad at me too," she poked him in a way that was supposed to be playful, "you got me in a lot of trouble."

"I'm sorry," said Brandon, finally looking at her. He couldn't believe how many things he'd screwed up.

"I should be really mad at you. After all, I gave you the money to help you and then you narced on me." She began putting the leftovers in the refrigerator, "that's not cool."

"I really am sorry," said Brandon. He finished the plate and leaned up against the sink, "But I couldn't lie to my mom and dad, not again. They were furious and I knew they'd find out."

"I understand you were in a tough position," now her tone was conciliatory, "but let's try to look out for each other a little better. I mean, sometimes things happen. We need to know that we can count on each other," she carefully watched him from the corner of her eye as she cleaned off the table, reading his body language easily.

"You don't have to worry, Dani," said Brandon feeling once more the weight of his guilt, "You can count on me. I promise."

_I bet I can_ thought Dani.


	5. Wives, Mothers, and Sons

_Thanks for taking the time to review, much appreciated, as always._

Stef looked at her wife, who was stretched lazily across their bed, "I can't believe we got yelled at," she said irritably. "Yelled at, like we were one of the kids."

Lena propped her chin on her hands, she had heard this refrain more than once in the last two days. "She wasn't really yelling at us."

"Scolding us then. How old is she, like 19? What the hell does she know about it?" Stef scrubbed her face furiously with a washcloth. "And being all smug about minor issues. Who does she think she is? Maybe I'll just do a little snooping of my own. I'll do a background check. See if she had unpaid parking tickets or jaywalking citations."

"Stef."

"If she wants petty, I can be petty," Stef declared seriously, scowling at her lover with an injured countenance.

Lena looked at her lover fondly, "we did have some issues. And we really should have Jesús's meds locked up. If nothing else, that whole debacle with Mariana was a good reminder that they're a controlled substance. We need to take that seriously."

"Can you stop being reasonable for like, five seconds and let me vent," groaned Stef as she slung her washcloth on the towel rack and flopped face first onto their bed.

"Oh, were you venting? I thought you were just whining," Lena said, settling on her side.

A brown eye peered at her as Stef turned her face. "You're really not going to let me complain about her?"

"Sweetheart, I've been hearing this for two days, and you can say anything you want but it's not going to change the fact that she has some kind of bone to pick with us."

"You picked up on that too," commented Stef dryly.

"She takes her job seriously. That's a good thing honey. She obviously cares about the kids," she held up a hand, forestalling any arguments, "but I do think that may give her a certain tunnel vision."

Stef rolled on her side, "Thank G-d, Callie didn't hear her, that would have freaked her out."

"Yeah," Lena's face was pensive, "she's been pretty quiet. Having Alisha visit was kind of a shock for all of us."

"We got too comfortable," said Stef softly, "especially since we adopted Jude. It was a wake-up call. We really need to push the adoption stuff. I don't ever want to see that look on Callie's face again."

"The panic?"

"The resignation. We can't let that happen to her again, Lena. That broke my heart."

Lena moved to lay her head on Stef's arm, "I'll call Aimee again tomorrow, see if it's possible to have Donald meet with us and the judge earlier to determine his level of paternal rights."

Stef kissed her head, "that would be great sweetheart, thank you. If you can distract the rest of our brood, maybe I can talk to Callie. See if I can get her to tell me what's going on in her head before she takes of for Mexico or something."

Lena thumped her chest, "not funny."

"I know," Stef let her chin rest on Lena's head. "We'll make sure she's okay. She's gotten so much better about talking to us. That's all you, you know," she said with a grin.

"What do you mean?" the genuine question in Lena's eyes made Stef want to kiss her forehead in sheer delight.

"You and your Ph.D level processing. You had Brandon talking about his feelings like some sort of psychoanalyst two months after he met you, the twins evaluated their behavior like pros about four months after we began fostering them, Jude is definitely his Mama's boy when it comes to amazing insights, then there's Callie, our little so-you're-dykes tough girl and her incredible ability to bring comfort to pretty much everyone she meets."

Lena snorted elegantly, a feat only she could accomplish, "thanks for giving me all the credit sweetheart, but I seem to remember you being fifty percent of the parenting team." She could feel Stef chuckling from under her.

"Yeah, we have our moments," Stef said. "You know, except when our kids are committing felonies; drug sales, id making, bribing a witness," she drummed her fingers lightly against the skin on Lena's back.

"To be fair, that was only two of our children," Lena said lightly, glad that they could find a little humor in the situation.

"Don't forget our probation-breaking runaway."

"I can't believe, we're going to have six kids soon," Lena tilted her head to look at her wife.

"Yeah," there was a slight catch in Stef's voice. She skimmed her hand against Lena's skin to rest on her belly.

Lena went completely still, watching the play of emotions on Stef's face. Lines of tenderness finally creased there, and the smile that Lena first fell in love with began to emerge like the morning sunrise.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"So what are you all up to this morning babies?" inquired Stef as about half her brood stumbled around the kitchen in search of sustenance.

Mariana shrugged, "I thought I'd go to the mall. Do some window shopping, look around." She turned to Callie, looking hopeful, "hey you want to come too?"

"Sorry," said Callie, "I have plans with Wyatt today," she saw the crushed look on the other girl's face and amended her answer, "but it's nothing big. You want to come with us?"

"Callie, I don't need a pity invitation," said Mariana, making a face as she began peeling an orange.

"Hey, your sister's just trying to be nice," Stef scolded gently.

"I know that," Mariana said to her mom, then looked at Callie, "it's nice of you, really, but I can find something to do by myself."

Stef heard the wistfulness in her daughter's tone and made a mental note to talk with her in a private moment. "What are you going to do today Jesús?"

"Gonna go see Sam. We're going to try that new skate park on Eighth Street," Jesús poured cereal in his bowl and tried to add about five tablespoons of sugar before Stef pulled the bowl away from him.

"That sounds fun."

"Yeah. They have a vert ramp that totally sick."

"Great," said Stef brightly, deciding not to show her ignorance by asking any more questions.

"Could you drop me at the mall, Mom?" Mariana asked.

"Mall?" Jude asked, rubbing his eyes a little as he entered the kitchen.

"Hey love," said Stef, getting up to plant a kiss on his head.

He gave her a sweet smile in return. "You're going to the mall?" he asked Mariana, walking over the fruit bowl to grab an orange.

"Yeah," Mariana shrugged.

"Can I go?" he leaned on the table to look at her.

"Really?" Mariana straightened a little. "You want to go to the mall with me?"

"Sure," Jude shrugged. "I have some stuff I want to look at".

"Cool. We can spend most of the day there if we leave soon."

"I didn't say I would drive you," Stef temporized, pouring herself another cup of coffee.

"Pleease Mom?" Mariana begged.

"Pleease Mom?" said Jude, leaning his head on Stef's shoulder with a cheeky grin.

"Fine," Stef gave him a wet kiss on the cheek, laughing when he wiped it off with a look of disgust. "You guys be ready to go in about forty-five minutes. "Callie, Jesús, do you need a ride?"

Callie shook her head, "no, Wyatt's picking me up in an hour."

"I do," said Jesús. "You can drop me off last though. The other guys aren't getting there until closer to noon."

"Alright then, Mariana, Jude, Jesús, please get ready right away. I need to run some errands so I need to get going. Please be quiet when you go upstairs. Mama had trouble sleeping last night and I want her to get some more rest." The crowd slowly trickled from the kitchen leaving Stef eyeing the debris from their breakfast. Sighing, she began cleaning the kitchen. Six kids soon. She shook her head.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Although both Callie and Wyatt loved the beach, they had found a small wooded park that they liked almost as much. It usually tended to be less crowded and there was a clearing next to a small creek that was one of the most peaceful places Callie had ever been. They held hands as they walked to the glade, but he seemed a little more subdued than usual. "What's wrong?" asked Callie, pulling away to look at him.

He gave her a weak smile, "can you do me a favor?"

"Of course, what?" she touched his arm.

"Can I leave my car at your place for a little bit?"

"Why? What happened? Talk to me Wyatt," Callie felt some anxiety creeping into her voice.

"Well, we're in a good news/bad news type of situation," said Wyatt, his smile becoming a bit wry.

"Bad news first," said Callie, preparing herself automatically.

"Actually the story makes more sense if I start with the good news," said Wyatt, fidgeting a little with his keys.

"Wyatt, seriously, if you drag this out much longer-"  
threatened Callie.

"Okay, so I was talking to my mom last night," Wyatt said, leading her to a grassy place where they could sit down, "and she said that she'd been trying to work some things out because she missed me so much, and she knows I have only a couple more years of school left and I want to finish them here."

"O-kay," said Callie slowly as she folded a leg to seat herself more comfortably. "That is good news."

"So, she's been looking around and she found this apartment building not far away that needs a super. You get free rent and a small stipend. If she can find another job too, we should be set…for a little while at least."

"Doesn't the super have to do repairs and stuff?" asked Callie.

"Yeah, small ones and deal with contractors for the big ones," Wyatt explained.

"So can your mom do that?"

"She's pretty handy," Wyatt shrugged, "and actually, I'm even better." He flexed his fingers a little bit and grinned at her.

Callie raised an eyebrow at him, "you're full of surprises, aren't you?"

"My grandpa, my mom's dad is really handy. He can fix almost anything. He taught her a lot when she was young and he taught me even more." His grandfather had been a real work-with-his-hands type of man and most of Wyatt's visits had been spent following him around with a mini-toolbox that held real tools, in miniature, learning how to fix things. Even being a teenager hadn't changed his admiration for the man.

"That's really cool, Wyatt, so she's going to come back?" Callie reached out to touch him again. She'd known he had been missing his mother.

"Yeah." Now Wyatt ran his hands over his jeans nervously.

"So what's the bad news? Your grandparents are alright, aren't they?" a little furrow of concern had appeared on Callie's face.

"Well, my mom was really excited and she insisted that she talk to Tyler's parents, the ones who I'm supposed to be living with. I've been able to put her off before, but she wanted to thank them personally and…."

"Uh-oh," Callie grimaced in anticipation

"Yeah," the wry look had turned chagrined, "she's not real happy with me. See, my mom and me, it's kind of been us against the world for a long time, and we've always been pretty much on the up and up with each other, so this really made her mad. She yelled at me for a long time and apparently while she was yelling at me she managed to book me on a flight to Indiana. This evening," Wyatt took a deep breath.

"Seriously, tonight?"

"Oh yeah. No excuses. I'm not sure when we'll be back. She's not sure when, but I have to travel back from Indiana with her. Also according to her I'm grounded for the foreseeable future," he scrubbed his fingers through his hair.

"Ouch." She could tell from his face that he was really upset about angering his mother.

"Yeah. She said she was glad I was going to have so much extra time because she was sure the building is going to need a lot of repairs."

"I guess we'll still see each other at school," she gave him a friendly nudge with her shoulder.

"Yeah."

They looked out across the park, Callie idly picking flowers with her left hand as Wyatt stroked the fingers of her right. "How long to we have?"

"About what we originally planned. Mom couldn't get a plane earlier than that. Do you think Stef or Lena could give me a ride to the airport? I hate to ask but I don't have a lot of money to take a taxi or anything, and I really can't afford to miss the plane. My mother will seriously kill me."

"Sure." Callie texted Stef quickly, and read her reply aloud. "Why?" She looked at him, "I think you might get into some trouble with my moms too."

Wyatt groaned a little and covered his face.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The weekend passed swiftly and Monday morning inevitably rose. Wyatt texted Callie from Indiana to tell her that his texting and calling privileges were being revoked but that he hoped he'd be there next week. She wasn't holding her breath. Both Lena and Stef had been dismayed that Wyatt had been couch surfing for the last few weeks and Lena was especially upset that he'd given her false contact information. Callie had been treated to a lecture on the importance of being honest and suffered her own brief lockdown for the rest of the weekend with the promise of more if it happened again.

Lena sighed as she went over a mental checklist of her day. Wyatt's lies had put her in a bad position as well. She had emailed the family but apparently that had been one Wyatt had faked and she felt guilty for not insisting on a face-to-face conversation. In her daily meeting with Karina, she was conflicted as they got closer to the end. It didn't necessarily need to come to the other woman's attention…yet, but if Wyatt's mother decided to make a complaint to the school…she bit her lip and opened her mouth to speak.

"Brandon came to talk with me again," said Karina, looking at her from over her glasses.

"What?" Lena blinked as she changed gears rapidly.

"He wanted to assure me, again, that the onus of the key appropriation was all on him and that no blame should fall to you." Karina tilted her head a looked at Lena speculatively.

Lena's lips compressed as she fought her anger. Clearly it was time she spoke to her son.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

That afternoon, when she went into her office after another meeting, her fifth of the day, she found her son bent studiously over his books. "Brandon," she cleared her voce authoritively, "we need to talk."

The instant worry in his eyes melded into something, a little relief maybe? He nodded slowly as he closed his books.

"Principal Sanchez said you came to her – again – to tell her you were solely to blame for opening the school after hours to make ids."

"Yes…"

"Were you under the impression that I was blaming myself?"

"No, but I heard you talking to Mom about-", he stopped, realizing he was admitting to eavesdropping, then forged ahead when he saw her frown. "You said she was saying that it was your fault."

"Yes, Brandon, that's exactly what she was implying, but that was none of your business," she leaned in front of her desk, folding her arms tightly.

"But it's my fault she thought that, and I just wanted her to know that I-"

"Brandon," her tone made him close his mouth. "That issue was between Principal Sanchez and myself. It was not your job to try and solve it."

"I-"

She held up a hand, "I'm not finished. This is what's been causing trouble for you lately. You are getting into situations that you have no business being in. Ana and your father, me and Principal Sanchez…those were adult situations. You are the child here Brandon. You are sixteen and you need to let the adults around you solve their own problems."

He looked down at her desk.

"Yes, Principal Sanchez implied that if I had kept my keys locked up, that the id incident wouldn't have happened, but I don't blame myself for that."

He raised his eyes again to look at her.

"Brandon, I had no reason, ever, to think that you would steal my keys. Nothing you had ever done, nor the twins, made me think that I would have to guard my personal property in that manner. I trusted my family to respect my things as I do theirs."

Her son swallowed and licked his lips as he tried to think of something to say. Lena shook her head and kneaded her forehead a little. "I don't blame myself for letting it happen, although I've lost the comfort I once had. I've certainly lost my trust in you."

This time Brandon managed to speak, his voice cracking slightly on the words, "But not like, forever, right? You won't – hate me or something forever?"

"Brandon," Lena uncrossed her arms to half-sit on the desk facing him, "I could never hate you. I love you, but that's different from trusting you."

Brandon's eyes widened and his face wore a look of stunned hurt. Her saying that - that was almost worse. "But how long will it take – before you trust me again?"

"Honey, I don't know that," she looked down at the floor, then at him again, "you're asking me to tell you how I'll feel in a predetermined amount of time and I can't give you an answer for that. I'll trust you when I do. You can probably help that by being the most trustworthy you can be."

"But do you mean…I mean, what if it takes months…or years?"

"It might. That's just the way it is baby."

The look in his eyes hurt her a little too. He looked like he was trying to remember how to breathe. Throughout their talk, Lena had never raised her voice, or spoken with anger, and for Brandon, that made it even more real, because she was completely serious about what she said. This wasn't a conversation in the heat of anger, where she'd take back her words, or even soften them. She'd been thinking about this for days, and it was from her heart and her emotions. There was nothing to sweet-talk or change, it just was.

He cradled his head in his hands, his silence speaking volumes.

Lena quietly moved to her chair and sat down, focusing on her paperwork while she waited for him to respond. It was a hard conversation, but she was determined that he would eventually realize what she said, and why it was so important for him to understand all this now, while he was able to learn and recover from his mistakes instead of pay for them with harsher adult penalties.

"I'll do better," he whispered finally. "I promise I will," he took a shaky breath, "I don't want you to ever have to say that to me again," he swallowed, running an arm self-consciously against his eyes.

"I absolutely know you can do better Brandon," she said, looking at his steadily.

He nodded, shame making him drop his gaze. He opened his books again. Words were cheap. He'd have to show them he could do better.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Stef noticed her oldest son's sober mien at dinner, but after a subtle head tilt at her wife, knew she would hear the story later. She was glad to see that, in general, her family seemed more relaxed. It had been a difficult few months and Stef was hoping for a few weeks of relative peace. With teenagers, any more then that would just be wishful thinking.

"So you finally spoke to some of the dance girls, sweets?" she asked Mariana.

Her daughter's head bobbed, "yeah, they were pretty nice too."

"They just said hi," said Callie skeptically.

Mariana frowned at her, "they didn't have to."

"You're setting a really low bar Mariana."

"I am not Callie! What are you expecting, some Jungian discussion?" Mariana put down her fork to glare at her sister.

"I didn't say that, but they could have said more, right?"

"Probably not Jung," said Jesús as he reached for another spoonful of potatoes, "they are dance team girls."

"Oh, hey…Jesús," began Lena.

"Like you should talk," Mariana snapped back.

"Okay, civil conversation please," said Stef, "I don't need to get acid indigestion from our dinner conversation, understand?" She raised her eyebrow threateningly to the three in question, satisfied when they nodded or looked down at their plates. She looked at her youngest, "Jude sweets, how was your day?"

"Good," said Jude. "We're going to be making a model of a cell for science. Connor's going to be my partner again," he beamed at them.

"That's great buddy," said Lena. "Do we need to get some supplies?"

"Maybe. Connor and I have to talk about what kind of model we're going to do, first"

"Well, you just let us know if we need to go shopping," said Lena as she took a bite of the poached salmon.

Jude nodded, "I will. I'm really glad I'm working with Connor. We're a good team. I bet we'll get a really good grade."

"I'm sure you will buddy," said Callie quietly.

The rest of dinner passed swiftly. After dinner the girls and Jesús went upstairs to finish their homework while Jude wandered to the living room to play video games. Brandon lingered by the kitchen counter as the moms cleaned up. "I thought I'd work on a new piece tonight," he began quietly. "Maybe you'd like to listen, Mama?" his voice rose hopefully, and he looked at her quickly before studying the counter again.

"Yeah, sure, honey. I'll be up in a little bit," she spared him a reassuring look.

Brandon nodded, gave a brief smile to his mom and followed his siblings upstairs.

Stef nudged her wife a little, "Any particular reason why our son is being so needy tonight?"

"I talked with him this afternoon," Lena dried the platter carefully, then placed it in one of the higher cupboards.

"Ah," Stef scrubbed at a particularly hard stain, then handed it to her partner when she deemed it clean enough, letting her finger stroke the inside of her lover's wrist in a casual, loving gesture.

"It hurt him to hear it," Lena's voice held no regret, but some sadness.

"I bet it did," said Stef softly. One of the most difficult things about being a parent, was feeling the hurt your kids felt, even if it would benefit them. Even though she thought her son deserved this particular mental agony, she couldn't help but feel bad that he had to go through it, that they all had to go through it.

"He's trying to get back in my good graces."

Stef couldn't help but smile when she had a rather hilarious and sentimental recollection of his short but memorable "Mama's boy" phase. All of them had had their chance. Hers, she had to admit was the longest lasting from his birth to around two when he decided his father had hung both the moon and the stars. She would watch as he'd run to his dad, squealing and starry eyed and even though she'd had a twinge of jealousy, it had been subsumed by her son's happiness. Mike may have not been the greatest husband, but she could appreciate him as a father. Lena's time in the spotlight came about two months after they had moved in together. Suddenly it was all Mama said this and Mama thinks that and Mama likes this, and every other word out of Brandon's mouth had been Mama. Instead of being annoyed or hurt all she could be was amused. Maybe it was because he was older and so verbal but his statements were always so serious and matter-of-fact, she hadn't the heart to laugh at his gravitas. Lena had mumbled something about biological and natural imperatives when children had to bond with parental figures in order to receive the care necessary for survival, but Stef had seen the pleased blush on her face. Stef had realized then that there was nothing on earth better then seeing people you loved, love each other. She had missed that with her parents, maybe because by the time she was old enough to realize it, her parents had been in the business of falling out of love. She had missed that with Mike, because she could never love him clearly and truly, especially while she was hiding such a significant portion of herself, from herself. Seeing Lena love Brandon, and he her, was like watching the final piece of a puzzle, a piece gone for such a long time you thought it was lost forever, finally click into place.

She took the dishtowel from Lena, and wrapped her arms, kissing her neck and her face tenderly until Lena smiled and melted a little and nuzzled her cheek in return. They kissed a final time, and without a single word, relinquished their grasp on one another at exactly the same time.

Lena headed upstairs, a promise for later in her eyes, and Stef looked around the kitchen, straightening a few things here and there before she followed the muted sounds into the living room. "Hey buddy."

Jude immediately paused the video game, looking at her eagerly, "Oh, good. Can I talk to you Mom?"

"Sure." She sat on the couch, patting the cushion beside her, touched that he was confiding in her. Lena was usually his go-to mom for that kind of thing.

Jude turned off the video game, and tossed the controller carelessly into the basket on the coffee table. He sat cross-legged on the couch, facing her, bouncing a little in his excitement. "You know Mariana and I went to the mall Saturday," he began.

"Yes, I know. I drove you there," Stef joked, poking his side a little.

He giggled, a sound she would never get tired of hearing. "Well, we went by this one store. It was kind of a jewelry store, but it had other stuff. Accessory type of stuff," he explained.

"Okay," she ran a thumb over his hands.

"Well, we were looking at some earrings and I was just wondering can-I-get-my-ears-pierced-please?" he asked rapidly.

"Oh," Stef paused a moment, tapping her knee lightly through her jeans, "that's kind of a big decision buddy. Anytime you change your appearance, you really need to think it through."

"I have been thinking about it. Really a lot," said Jude, "and I'd really like to do it. I saw this neat pair of hoops. I think they'd look cool."

Stef nodded, "I bet they are. Do you know how much getting your ears pierced costs?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you have enough?"

He shook his head, "Not yet, but I will soon."

"Well, I'll tell you what sweets, you save your money, think about it some more, and I'll talk it over with Mama. We let Mariana get her ears pierced when she was a bit younger than you so I don't see why not."

Jude's grin was enormous, "thanks Mom! Thank you so much! Mariana said you guys would say yes but I wasn't sure." He gave her a bone crushing hug.

"Of course sweets." She took his chin in her hand, "thank you for not just getting it done without talking to us first, like a sister who-will-not-be-named who poked a hole through her nose without permission," her voice held a mock sterness to it.

Jude giggled again, "I wouldn't do that. I just," he hesitated, "I was afraid you'd think it was weird or something and tell me no."

"Not at all," said Stef without hesitation. "I think you're right, it will look cool."

Another happy grin made Stef's breath catch, it took so little to make them happy, especially at this age. "Alright you," she said, covering the gravelly tone to her voice, "why don't you go take your shower. You can play a little more after that, okay?"

"Okay!" he headed upstairs and Stef leaned back into the couch, hearing the soft murmurs of her daughters and the faint sound of the piano. She closed her eyes and listened to the noises of her family, safe and sheltered against the night.


	6. Girl Trouble

_A small __**tip of the nib**__ to Alison Bechdel and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites!_

Tuesday night, Stef clambered into bed next to her partner, "okay, don't be mad, but I got a present for the baby today."

"Why would I be mad? Let me see," Lena held her arms out and made a gimme motion with her fingers.

Chuckling, Stef brought out the small bag with a distinctive symbol on the cover.

Lena raised an eyebrow, "you went to Chicks and Baby Duckies?"

"Remember when we use to go out to the neighborhood, for dinner and to just hang out for awhile?"

"Yeah," Lena's fingers skimmed the bag, dying to open it but at the same time, wanting to hear the story.

"It was a Friday night, we had just gone to dinner at Madri's and we were walking around," Stef crawled a little closer and lay her head on the pillow next to Lena's. "I was trying to convince you what we really needed was ice cream. Then we walked by that store…"

Lena gazed out the window, a little lost in the memory. They had already moved in together and were building their new life together. But her eyes had fallen onto the kitschy maternity clothing and eco-friendly toys and she had felt something tug at her. It was faint at the time, not nearly as overwhelming as when she had been sitting in the OB-GYN's office, realizing that the time was ticking away, but it _had_ been there, she hadn't even really acknowledged the feeling to herself, but Stef must have. She looked at her wife.

"I noticed," Stef admitted quietly. Lena kissed her fingers, a little bit of warmth flowing through her as she realized how _carefully_, Stef observed her at times. "I should have said something, but we were still kind of new and then we got the twins and…" Stef shook her head. "I should have said something then. I wish I would have."

"I know that honey."

"I'm really happy about the baby," Stef clasped Lena's fingers, playing with them a little as she thought of lost opportunities and worries of other things she might have missed when she wasn't looking closely enough.

"You going to let me see my present?" Lena asked, giving her lover a playful nudge, pulling her out of her pensiveness with her little-girl glee.

Stef grinned as Lena removed tissue paper and plucked out the tiny, green onesie that proclaimed _Made with Love and Science_ in white stitching. Lena began to chuckle, "Stef," she complained, her smile belying her remonstrating tone.

"You should have seen the ones I didn't buy," her lover told her earnestly.

"I love it," said Lena, her hand tracing over the tiny snaps, imagining the tiny form it would enfold.

"Yeah?" Stef kissed the side of her wife's head, letting her forehead rest there for a moment.

"Yeah."

"Stef?" Lena's voice turned serious and Stef felt herself tense a little.

"What?"

"I need to ask you something."

"Okay," Stef's voice was hesitant.

"You aren't going to secretly buy stuff and hide it all over the house and spoil this baby before she's born, are you? Because I just won't have that," Lena's lips slipped into a smile, then a squeal when Stef began tickling her side.

"I can't believe you did that to me," Stef complained. "I swear woman, you just had me sweating bullets!"

"Okay, stop, stop!" Lena said her giggles interspersing her words, "I won't do it again!" She flopped back into the pillows.

Stef joined her, caressing the place where the baby was forming through it's infinitesimal cells. Just imagining the small child inside her wife made Stef simultaneously nervous and exhilarated.

Lena looked at her lover fondly. The woman was an open book and the tender look in her eyes made her feel as content as thoughts of the baby made her feel.

"You know, you keep calling her a girl," said Stef, a teasing lilt to her voice, lifting a hand to play with the curly ends of Lena's hair.

"So do you," Lena said, batting her fingers away playfully.

"Yeah. Another girl would be nice, eh? Even us up."

"You do understand that will make us a lot more like the Brady Bunch, right?"

The noise that left Stef's throat was a half groan, half laugh. "Great."

"I'm not sure we can stay with our original ideas of who's the most trouble though," said Lena, folding her arm under her head, propping it up a little.

"That boys are more trouble when they're little and girls are more trouble when they're teenagers?"

"Uh-huh."

"Jesús is true to form there. I think Brandon's just making up for lost time," said Stef. "But I don't think we should count the girls out yet. With Callie running away and ending up back in juvie and Mariana piercing her nose, meeting up with Ana, and wanting to become a cheerleader…"

"Dance team member."

"Is there really a difference, sweetheart? I mean, at a base level?"

"One dances and one cheers?"

"Thanks babe."

Lena sucked in a breath as she nibbled at her lip, "I really don't know. Neither cheerleaders nor dance team were on my radar in high school."

"You mean you didn't notice the cheerleaders in their cute little uniforms? Damn honey, even I noticed that and I was in serious denial at the time."

Lena looked at her quickly, but there was only humor in Stef's tone. "I might have noticed…a couple of girls," she grinned at the memory.

"Oh yeah?" Stef's tone turned very interested and she turned on her side to gaze at her lover more closely, "do tell."

"No," Lena said, instantly letting a curtain of tangled, wild curls fall over her face.

"Aw, c'mon honey. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Stef's tone turn wheedling as she tried to brush the curls away from her lover's eyes. When she managed to unearth a wicked looking smirk, Stef groaned, "Oh, now you have to tell me."

Lena just chuckled.

There was a light knock at the door, "Moms?"

"Come in Mariana," said Lena, with a final grin of triumph. Stef pretended to smother her with a pillow.

"Am I interrupting?" asked Mariana, standing a the threshold of the doorway, clad in her pajamas.

"Yes," said Stef teasingly, "but come in anyway lovely," she said, gesturing to the bed.

Mariana sat at the end of the bed, cross-legged, facing her mothers. "I was wondering if I could ask you guys something."

"Just did," said Stef.

"Stef," Lena jabbed her with an elbow. "Go ahead honey," she said to Mariana.

"I know we usually only get extra money for new clothes at the beginning of the school year," Mariana began, "and the rest we have to buy ourselves, but I was wondering if you would make an exception."

Stef sighed, some of her good mood evaporating, "Sweetheart," she began.

"It would just be for a couple of outfits," Mariana said quickly, trying to stop her moms from saying no, "and they wouldn't cost much, I promise. I'll even pay you back, I just don't have the money right now."

"Mariana," said Lena firmly, "you have a closetful of clothes, nice clothes that you haven't outgrown and are in wonderful condition. Why do you need more clothes?"

"When I was at the mall, I saw some gorgeous outfits that are amazing, and they'd really go with my, with my new image."

"New image, what's that about?" asked Stef, a frown cracking the surface of her face.

"It's nothing big, I'm just, umm, adapting. That's normal you know, healthy and evolutionarily sound," Mariana prattled.

Stef gave her daughter, then her wife a bewildered look, "what is she saying?" she demanded of her wife.

Lena gave her partner a little sideways look and focused back on their daughter, "Mariana, why don't you tell us what this is really about?"

Mariana fidgeted a little, then plucked at her star covered pajama pants, "Okay, well you know I'm trying out for the dance team on Friday."

"Yes," said Stef unnecessarily, it had been a constant topic of conversation with Mariana over the last week and a half.

"So I think I need a couple of outfits," Mariana tried, not wanting to say anything more.

"To fit in?" Lena sighed, already anticipating the reaction.

"No," Mariana's tone was unconvincing.

"Mariana," the exasperation in Stef's voice was clear.

"Don't say no before you've heard me out!" Mariana protested.

Stef took a deep breath as Lena lay her hand on her arm, "tell us what you're thinking," Lena said.

"Well, it kind of is about fitting in with them. I mean, it's subtle but all I really need to do is add a few things to my wardrobe," Mariana said. "It's not always a bad thing to fit in, Mom," she said to the expression on Stef's face. "The kids who shoot up schools are the ones that don't fit in, remember?"

"Really, Mariana? You're going there?"

"Mama," Mariana pleaded, turning to her other mother.

"I have to agree with Mom on this one honey. You don't need new clothes and you definitely don't need new clothes just to fit in with those girls."

"I knew you guys were going to say that," Mariana huffed, pushing herself off the bed, "I don't know why I even bothered to ask."

"Hey," Stef warned at her daughter's tone.

Mariana folded her arms across her chest and looked stubbornly at their comforter, "I don't see why it's a big deal. I told you I'd pay you back," she was on the verge of a whine.

"It's a big deal because we don't have a ton of money to be spending on clothes right now and we just spent a significant amount of money on your birthday about four months ago," Stef reminded her.

"And you don't _need_ them, honey," Lena said, running her fingers through her hair, trying to find the right words, "the girls on the dance team are going to critiquing your dance performance. That's where you should put your efforts."

"Mom, don't tell me you believe that's the only thing they're going to be looking at," said Mariana, rolling her eyes.

Stef straightened against the headboard, "You need to check you attitude, right now," she warned. "I mean it Mariana, I'm not going to tell you again."

"Fine. If you won't listen to me, I'll just go to bed," Mariana spun around and practically stomped out of the room.

"Night, we love you," said Stef dryly as the door closed firmly. Now _she_ rolled her eyes and looked at her wife, "so girls…" she began.

Lena waved a hand carelessly, "yeah I know." Stef chuckled suddenly. "What?"

"I was just thinking. Both Kris and Melly were working the store. They were complaining back and forth about their daughter while they folded onesies. I told them that probably wasn't good advertising for dykes running a baby store."

"How is little Xena Gabrielle these days?" said Lena, smiling a little. _Poor kid_.

"Well, she goes by Gabby these days and she's seventeen already."

"Oh my gosh, really?"

"Yeah, apparently she's besotted with a college junior Lothario and is captain of the cheer squad."

"Her moms must love that."

"I'm pretty sure that was the crux of their argument."

Lena sighed, leaning her head against Stef's shoulder, "Okay, that's the not so fun part of kids."

"Yeah." They were quiet a few moments, "at least this little one will take awhile before she's a teenager."

"They grow up so fast though," Lena's voice was wistful, "I still remember holding Brandon's hand to cross the street…cradling Mariana on my lap… carrying Jesús to bed when he'd finally crash."

"I know," Stef agreed with a small sigh. "I miss that. I miss all of that."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jude waited nervously in the hallway at the end of the school day, a somewhat unmovable pebble in a sea of middle schoolers. "Hey Maddie," he said when he saw the girl coming towards him, her backpack slung casually around her shoulders.

"Hi Jude," she said. "I can't wait to go miniature golfing on Saturday!"

"Yeah," Jude scratched his neck nervously, "I was thinking it's be fun to invite Connor too. He really likes miniature golf, and he's really great at it too. Actually he's really good at all the sports," he said loyally. He was very proud of his best friend.

The dismay on Maddie's face was easy to read, and he felt his heart sink a little. "Connor's really nice," Maddie said, "I like him, but I was hoping…that it would just be the two of us. I mean, you said one of your moms would drop us off, right?"

Jude felt himself panic a little, he wasn't sure if he was ready for a one-on-one date with Maddie. Even more than scared, he felt unsure of himself. It was better when Connor was around. Connor always knew what to say and he didn't get tongue-tied like Jude sometimes did. He had a way of making everyone laugh and he always made Jude feel so, so comfortable. "I…um," he licked his lips, trying frantically to figure out what to say.

"Look, Jude," said Maddie, shifting her feet a little, "I have an idea. Let's go mini-golfing on Saturday, and next week we'll do something with Connor, ok?" her eyes pleaded with him to accept this compromise.

With a sigh, he gave in, "okay." Then, not wanting to be a jerk, he mustered up a smile. "We're going to have a lot of fun. Let's bring money for snacks and things and we can share them so we can try even more."

"That's a great idea Jude," squealed Maddie, happy to see him looking more excited. "I think I'll have an extra twenty dollars, how about you?"

Jude scrubbed a hand over his face as he realized he was going to have to wait a little longer to get his ears pierced. Oh well, he'd just look through web sites again and have an even better idea of which ones he wanted. He'd get Mariana to help him, her sense of fashion would definitely be invaluable. She wouldn't steer him wrong. "I think I have about the same," he said. "I think it only costs ten dollars to golf, we can spend the rest on food or games and stuff."

"Awesome," Maddie smiled again, shifting her backpack to a more comfortable position. "I better get going, I have to meet my mom up front, but we can talk more tomorrow, ok?"

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Jude watched her hurry to the exit.

"What were you talking about with Maddie?" Connor said from somewhere over his left shoulder.

Jude spun around. Connor was wearing his green and blue shirt today. It contrasted nicely with his dark hair. "Nothing," Jude started, then shook his head, "I mean, we were talking about Saturday."

"What about Saturday?" Connor's forehead was already wrinkling a little.

"Uh, Maddie and I are going to go mini-golfing."

"Oh," Jude couldn't read Connor's tone, "why?"

"I don't know, she asked me and I thought it would be fun," he saw the disappointed look in Connor's eyes, "I wanted to ask you too, but Maddie wanted to be alone," he explained.

"Yeah, I bet. Whatever."

Connor began walking in the opposite direction, and Jude hurried to keep up. "Connor," he said. "Do you want to come over to my house today? We don't have a lot of homework and we can play a video game or-"

"I don't think so," Connor's voice wasn't mean, but there was an element of frustration in his tone, "I have soccer practice today. I'll see you tomorrow, Jude," he resumed his quick pace to the front of the school.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," said Jude, his shoulder slumping in disappointment. He walked towards Lena's office. He wanted to get help with some of his math before she took Brandon to his community service work place. He rapidly reviewed the last ten minutes, trying to figure out if he could have handled the situation better. If he had invited Connor mini-golfing, Maddie would have been upset, but because he hadn't, Connor was upset. Jude was beginning to believe that the academic work would be the easiest part of middle school. The rest of it? He shook his head. Maybe he should ask his siblings if it got better.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Alanna, eyed the newcomer critically as he walked through the doors of The Eighth Avenue Community Center. According to The Judge, he had some talent. That's all the information she was given no matter how much she pestered her, but Alanna was determined that if he didn't pull his weight, he'd be out on his ass in less time then it took to say the words.

"Hi, I'm Alanna," she said, extending her hand with a steady look, "and you're Brandon Foster."

He met her hand, a little slowly, "yeah, how did you know that?"

"There's not a lot I don't know, Brandon," she said, doubling down on smugness to size him up quickly.

He released her hand, a frown creasing his forehead, "o-kay," he said, glancing around the reception area, "so where's Marisol? I need to make sure of what I need to do and everything."

"Marisol gets pretty busy with administrative stuff. She's more like the Galactic President then anything else," said Alanna thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah?" said Brandon scoffed.

"Don't get me wrong, she's a great person, and has a magic touch when it comes to paperwork, but the community center? That's my baby."

"Really?" the kid asked skeptically, folding his arms as he did some sizing up of his own. "So you're the Old Man? Think really highly of yourself, don't you?"

He recognized the reference, she realized, he might not be hopeless after all. She disguised her pleasure expertly, "yup, so if you want to know what you're gonna do, have a seat. I have a lot to tell you, and I don't have a lot of time to screw around with some entitled Mission Bay…kid." She grinned a little at his wince. He didn't like being called kid. She'd make sure to use that.

He unfolded his arms but he didn't sit down, "you've got to be kidding me," he said, rolling his eyes.

Now she put her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow, "what's wrong kid, you have problems taking orders taking orders from a black woman?"

A smirk twisted his mouth as he looked at her, "yeah, sure," he dead-panned, "that's a situation that's completely unfamiliar to me," he sat down and leaned back a little in the seat.

She narrowed her eyes at him, there was a story there, but _he_ wasn't going to share it. "Alright," she said. "So you're our piano guy, obviously. I assume you know how to read music and everything?"

"Yes," said Brandon, not restraining himself from rolling his eyes again.

"We have you booked up with kids, thirty minutes for each session, one kid at a time. We don't want to overwhelm you or anything," she needled him.

"I think I'll manage some little kids, thanks," there was definite sarcasm in his tone.

"Yeah? We'll see about that. Now I'm going to tell you something, and I'm going to be completely serious here," she leaned forward a little.

"You weren't before?"

"Shut up. These are little kids, little kids that have been through a lot in their lives. You know this center is exclusively for foster kids, right?"

"Yes," the smirk on his face was also gone.

"You better be nice to these kids. I find out you're mean to them, at all, and you're done. You can explain to The Judge how it happened." Now _she_ leaned back a little, evaluating his reaction.

"I don't know what you know about me and my hearing with Judge Barton," he said crisply, "but that's none of your business. Secondly, you don't have to make any stupid threats to me. I don't hurt kids." She frowned at him harder, and he loosened his arms a little and took a deep breath. "I _like_ little kids," he said, dropping his eyes for a second before meeting her gaze, "they're fun and they deserve to have pople around them who are good to them."

The words were sincere, and the stiffness of his body language made it pretty clear that he didn't necessarily want to admit it to her, probably since she was being such a pain, but it was a system that had worked for her and she wasn't going to stop now. "Okay," she said, nodding in satisfaction, I'll show you where the piano is." She stood up and indicated she should follow him.

The music room was small, but Alanna was proud of it. There were several sets of drums and xylophones that were used most often. She was hoping to be able to get the money to purchase more string instruments, but that hadn't happened yet. The piano was plain, but it was a good one, they had made sure about that. Unfortunately, it hadn't got much use since they hadn't been able to find a piano teacher that would stay with them for a significant period of time. Brandon walked over to the piano, his hands gliding lightly over the keys, playing a short glissando. She saw his slight wince, "what?" she said, a little more defensively then she wanted.

He paused, looked at her, "it's a little out of tune," he said pointedly.

For some reason, Alanna was embarrassed, "we'll have someone come in and take care of it," she said.

"It happens all the time. Pianos get out of tune for all kinds of reasons, a move, temperature, neglect…"

There was no censure in his tone now and Alanna hesitated, unsure of whether there was an implied criticism that he was simply masking. Then she sighed and decided to tone it down. She knew her hardass routine made her unlikable but with most of the people she dealt with, a tough mien was what people respected. But still, she could maybe back off, a little, and see if he'd do okay. "You can work with it okay though? For today?"

"It's fine. No big deal."

Their quiet moment was broken by the very loud voice of Jerome Whitney, carrying right through the closed door. "I told you, I ain't playin' no G-d damn piano," the boy shouted. "I ain't no fag!"

Alanna smiled at Brandon, "Your first student is here," she said brightly.

Brandon blinked at her as Mrs. Thompson hissed, "I have told you before about using appropriate language, Jerome."

"Well, I'm _gonna_ keep using bad language if you don't start _listening_ to me," the boy insisted.

"Hi guys," said Alanna, smiling at the boy and the older woman as she opened the door, "I'm so glad to see you." Mrs. Thompson had one hand on Jerome's shoulder, clearly expecting him to bolt.

"You trippin' Allie, if you think I'm takin' any freakin' piano lessons," the boy said, scowling at her ferociously, arms crossed tightly across his chest.

Alanna knew how badly he wanted to take lessons, as did his foster mother. Any chance he got, he fiddled around with the piano, but only if no one else was around. She turned around to introduce him, but Brandon was already walking towards the boy, offering him a small fist bump, which the surprised child returned. "Hey bud," he said, "I'm Brandon. I'm going to be working with you on the piano." He gave Mrs. Thompson a smile and shook her hand with a brisk motion. "Ma'am."

Jerome squinted at the teenager suspiciously, "_you're_ going to be my teacher?" A smidgen of hostility had left the boy's voice, and Alanna hid a smile. She was hoping that Jerome might be willing to take piano lessons if he had a male teacher.

"Yeah," Brandon said.

"Piano's for girls," Jerome said, and Alanna wondered if Brandon heard the undercurrent of longing underneath all the anger in the boy's tone.

"No way, dude," said Brandon. "There's tons of guys that play the piano."

"Fags," said the little boy sullenly, but edging a little closer to the piano.

"If you mean gay men," said Brandon, giving the little boy a more serious look, "and, yes, some are, not that it's a big deal. Most aren't."

"That's not what my brother says, and he doesn't lie to me," the boy's voice had turned defensive.

"I'm sure he doesn't lie to you," said Brandon, "but that doesn't mean he's not wrong about this. I've spent most of my life playing piano and being around people who play piano, and I can tell you exactly who plays."

The little boy's outwardly presented skepticism was so fierce that it would have been comical if his internal conflict weren't so great. "I don't know."

"C'mon," Brandon's voice was more playful than coaxing, "otherwise how can you learn how to play great songs like this." Without even looking at the keys he played a riff from a rap song Alanna recognized. She raised an eyebrow at his choice, but underneath the thump of the bass line there was a beautiful melody.

Jerome covered a smile, obviously recognizing the tune and the not-quite-fit-for-children lyrics. "Maybe," he walked over to the piano, and reached out to brush a key.

"See you in a little bit," said Brandon cheerfully to the women, clearly dismissing them as he turned to the piano and began demonstrating something to the little boy.

Mrs. Thompson nodded to Alanna and they both left the room, although the older woman made sure to linger close to the door. "You're sure he's a nice boy, Allie?" she asked the girl. "He'll be a good influence? I want this for J.J., so much."

"Yes," said Alanna, taking a quick peek into the room. Were they trying to play the piano with their _feet_, now? "I think Jerome is going to love it. Not that he'll admit it," she said," sharing a knowing grin with Mrs. Thompson.

"No, poor baby, I don't think he will, but this will be so good for him. I'm so happy you found him!" she gave Alanna a quick sidewise hug.

"Thank The Judge," said Alanna dryly. "She's the one who enlisted him."

"You be nice, young lady," Mrs. Thompson warned, shaking a finger at her nose. "She does a lot for you, and you know it."

Alanna raised her hands in supplication, "I know, I know. I'm just kidding Mrs. Thompson. I think Brandon's going to be a good fit."

This feeling grew after Jerome left, barely waving to Brandon, but a bounce in his step that had been missing for awhile. Little Refugio was next, and Brandon's whole demeanor change. His eyes softened when he looked at her, and he crouched very carefully to take her hand to say hello. Refugio cried when her foster mom left, Alanna trying to facilitate a quick separation from experience, then continued to cry when they were gone, silently, huddled in a chair, watching Brandon with large, dark eyes, but hiding them whenever he looked at her. He didn't get in her space at all, just talked to her in a soft tone, partially in broken Spanish and partially in English. Finally, he went to the piano, and hands gliding like he had before, began playing the soundtrack from Frozen. Alanna tried to file this away as something to tease him about later, but when he started to sing to the little girl, she lost her resolve. After the second song, Refugio had stopped crying. After the fifth song, she had managed to edge close enough to the piano that she could almost touch it. On the sixth song, Brandon had slowly taken her tiny hand and placed it on the keys. The little girl was still a little tense, but she had become fixated on the keys. When he finished the Frozen songs, for some reason, he began songs from Beauty and the Beast. He wasn't able to make it through this set when Alanna tapped at the window to indicate their time was up. Refugio ran to her foster mother and buried her head in her leg, but she peeked shyly at Brandon while those above above four feet talked. When she left, she gave the tiniest of smiles to Brandon and his gentle, _adios_.

After that, Alanna finally felt comfortable enough to do little things around the general area of the music room instead of hovering. She still checked on him every five minutes, but so far, she was really pleased with how it was going.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Brandon was completely exhausted by the time 5:30 came around. Who knew that teaching kids would be so exhausting? He suddenly had and even greater respect for Lena. He had used a lot of energy trying to get the kids to trust him enough to even get close to the piano…and him. He knew it was going to be tough, but when he had been six, he hadn't noticed the work it had taken to get the twins to trust him. Since he had been little too, Jesús and Mariana hadn't seen him as a particularly big threat. Well, Jesús hadn't really. Mariana had been pretty much terrified of anything that wasn't Jesús. These little ones were different. They saw him as a grown-up, possibly a threat and they were having a hard time believing anything he said. It had made him want to work harder, to have them believe there were at least a few people on their side, people they could trust. But even though they had drained him, he'd enjoyed their presence a hell of a lot more then Alanna. Man, within two minutes she'd gotten under his skin, although these days that wasn't hard to do. What was her problem anyway? Just as he had this thought, Miss Congeniality herself appeared in the hallway and he sighed, internally girding himself for another round.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey."

She just looked at him and he restrained himself staring back. She had a very piercing glare, the one that made you feel that all your insides were on the outside. It was kind of intimidating even though she was pretty tiny, only a little bigger than Mariana. "You're pretty good with kids," it was a grudging compliment, but at least it was positive.

"Yeah," he said cautiously, then belatedly, "thanks. I'm use to being around kids."

She nodded, peering at him, "you have siblings?"

"Yeah. Four of them," he said, relaxing a little more. This was getting-to-know-you information. He knew the pattern.

She wrinkled her nose a little in thought, "are you guys Mormon or something?"

Brandon had a brief, but hilarious image of his family in some kind of Big Love situation, not that his moms would be pleased to know he'd watched that. Man, who would be his third mom? He stared behind her a little, trying to conjure what third person could handle both his moms and his crazy family.

"Hey!" Alanna snapped in front of his face.

"Oh, sorry," he blinked at her. "No, we aren't Mormon."

"Catholic?"

"Nope, we're not really religious."

"Hmmm," she gave him a speculative stare, "not gonna tell me?"

He shrugged a little, "just kid people I guess."

"Huh," she looked at him again. "Well, let's go into the main office. Marisol wants to know about the day." He followed her into the office and had a brief conversation with Marisol, who almost immediately got a call she had to take. His second impression of her was the same as his first. She was a busy, cheerful woman who had more to do than any one person should have to do but managed not to be in the least bitter about it. He admired that about her. He went out into the reception area, after she waved them away, looking towards the doors, wondering if he should go out to meet his mother. She'd been pretty insistent about meeting him in the building though, and there was no way he was pushing her right now.

"So, uh, where do you go to school?" he asked Alanna as she stood there, wanting somewhat to continue the getting-to-know-you-conversation. It certainly beat her staring at him.

"Archfield."

"Oh," he recognized the name. It was a prestigious private girl's school that was known for academic rigor. "I've heard it's kind of tough."

Alanna shrugged, "not really."

Now it was his turn to look at her with some speculation.

"School's always been easy for me," she said, without a trace of superiority. "I also have a eidetic memory so homework doesn't take much time. They wanted to put me a couple grades ahead, or put me in some gifted program, but I said no way. I don't need any of that crap. I told my mom if she let me stay at Archfield and stay in the same grade as kids my age, I'd stay out of trouble."

"You known for a lot of trouble?"

"I have a high IQ and a smart mouth. You figure it out."

Brandon tried to smother a smile but it appeared anyway. "So what do you do, you know, to stay out of trouble?"

She leaned against the wall, "the community center takes a lot of my time. I wasn't kidding when I said it was my baby. I'm also taking an astronomy course at the USD and another," she waved her hand to indicate the futility in naming it, "advanced math course. Then I have a few on-line friends that are helping me learn some languages."

"What languages?"

"Hindi and Swahili. I'm at the conversational level in both of them, but I need to get to the academic level before I'll move on to a few more."

Brandon closed his mouth, feeling stupid, "wow," was all he said.

She pursed her lips, "it's not a big deal. Mostly I do it to keep my mom happy so she won't get all bitchy about me wasting my potential."

"You get along with your mom?" this seemed like a question that was too personal, but she kind of opened the lead.

Now the girl smiled widely, "she's not so bad. I love her even when she's being a pain in my ass. But the real question is, what do you think about her?"

"What do you mean?" asked Brandon, pushing out a somewhat bewildered laugh.

"Judge Barton's my mom."

Brandon felt his stomach dropped and he stared at Alanna. "What?"

"Judge Barton's my mom," a tiny smile still played at the corners of her mouth.

"So like, what, she busts someone in court and sends them to you? Like picking things from some damn shopping list?" Brandon could feel himself getting angry and he clenched his fists tightly.

"My mom's involved with all sorts of volunteer organizations. She works in juvenile courts, she has to be. I'm literally one of hundreds and she's really good at figuring out who fits where," Alanna's voice became a little defensive.

Brandon leaned over, grasping his hair in his hands, taking deep breaths, "fine," he finally gritted out. He began rapidly going through their conversations, and his heart sped up a little bit, thinking of his unfiltered responses, "look, I'm sorry," he said, speaking rapidly, "I didn't mean to be an ass before. I've just been in a bad place."

"What do you mean?" now Alanna was confused, his sudden state of nervousness was a whiplash change from his previous anger.

"I-," he stopped when he saw Lena striding through the double doors.

"Hi honey," she said, giving him a smile.

"Hi," the smile he gave her was full of nervousness. They stood, looking at one another until Lena indicated the girl with her eyes.

"Oh, sorry. Mom this is Alanna. Alanna, this is my mother, Lena." He deliberately left off Alanna's last name, not wanting his mom to know the connection.

Alanna reached forward, "hi," she said pleasantly, side-eyeing Brandon a little.

"Nice to meet you Alanna. What is it you do here?" asked Lena, looking at her with interest.

"This and that," Alanna said, not displaying the playful arrogance she had with Brandon. "I just do what needs to get done. I'm here a lot."

"It's good to see kids taking an interest in their community," said Lena, looking around the reception area. "Is Marisol in her office?"

"Yes," said Alanna

"Why?" said Brandon at the same time.

Lena smiled pleasantly at Alanna but turned enough to frown at her son. "Thanks," she said to Alanna while at the same time giving him a look that said "because you're still in trouble with me little boy", which is exactly what she _had_ said to him once when he was eight and didn't know enough not to ask that kind of dumb question when he was in that much trouble. He spared a quick moment, internally thanking her for not actually saying that and embarrassing him, and nodded quickly. Lena disappeared with another quick look at them both. Brandon scuffed the floor lightly with his toe, then looked at the girl, waiting for her to say something.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Alanna regarded Brandon carefully. He had lost the teasing, sarcastic persona that had been mostly amusing, sometimes annoying her this afternoon. She knew mentioning her mom had a part in that but though his defensiveness was understandable, she thought it completely misguided. Her mom really was an expert in finding kids to go with various volunteer programs. It was a gift that made her such an amazing juvenile court judge. Obviously, Brandon was regarding it in a more sinister light. "So that's your _mom_," she said, putting a little emphasis on the last word.

He looked at her blankly then the tiniest amount of puckishness he had shown earlier returned, "one of them."

"You know, you could have just told me you had two moms and that one of them was black."

"Where would the fun be in that?" he shrugged a little, but the smile had disappeared from his eyes. He cleared his throat. "I really _am_ sorry about earlier. You aren't – you aren't going to tell your mom about that, are you?"

She looked at him, dumbfounded.

"Because I probably was taking out some of my frustration with you. I'm kind of having a tough time with my moms and I'm mad a lot, so I think you were an easy target."

"Brandon, if you think I'm going to _tell_ on you, I have to remind you, we aren't in preschool," Alanna couldn't help but be a little offended.

The pinched look didn't leave his face. "I don't know you well enough to know what you'll say, and I really want to do a good job here. I don't want to disappoint my parents anymore."

Alanna relaxed a little, realizing he wasn't trying to imply anything. "I actually started by giving you a hard time, remember?" she said. "We're good Brandon, seriously. Unclench, okay?"

He nodded, "okay."

His mother came out of the room, her hair in a glorious halo around her face, "looks like it was a good day, honey. Let's get going. I want to get home before Mom tries to figure out what I set out for dinner."

"Okay." He turned to Alanna, "I'll see you Saturday," he said quietly.

"Yup. Full schedule, don't be late!" she ordered with benign authority.

"She seems like a nice girl," she heard the mom murmur.

"Yeah, she's really…interesting," Brandon said, opening the door for his mom and turning to look at her directly.

She gave him a vigorous wave. This could be fun.


	7. Friends, Enemies, Lovers, and Family

_I spent a good part of the weekend writing a timeline for this story. Now I want to see the writer's timeline too._

The beat of the music was strong, even if it was off-kilter with her heartbeat. Mariana spared herself three seconds before she began her routine. She had watched the other girls, they were definitely good, but she knew her routine cold. That had to count for something, right? Her feet went through the correct motions and even though the small crowd seemed to be a blur, a feeling of exhilaration pulsed through her. She had it, everything was the right step, the right move. When the music stopped, she raised her arms in the final pose, a smile of triumph on her face.

"Great, thanks. Next please," said Kaitlyn in an official voice.

Mariana moved obediently to the side where the benches were, while the next girl began her routine.

"Hi," said a voice from beside her. A girl with long, dark hair sat down sat down beside her. "I was watching your audition. Good job," the last part was said casually but it seemed to be sincere.

"Thanks," said Mariana, loosening her hair from the ponytail it had been in. "You're Hayley, right?"

"Uh-huh. You're one of Lena's kids?"

"Yes," said Mariana slowly. Some of the other teens snubbed her when they found out she was the vice-principal's kid.

"Cool," said Hayley, studying the current girl who was auditioning. She saw a flash from the side and looked at Mariana again. "Nice jacket."

"Thanks," said Mariana again, her smile widening. She had borrowed money from her siblings (Callie and Brandon being able to loan her the most money) and had bought the jacket secretly after school one day, telling her moms she was studying at the library. She knew they would be upset if they found out but she thought they were being unfair. Still, she would have to hide the jacket because otherwise there would be hell to pay. Lena being the vice principal made things a little more tricky. She would have to be extra observant. Obviously it had been a smart choice though, Hayley had complimented her jacket! And she was one of the important people on the dance team. "It goes with nearly everything."

"I can see that," Hayley looked impressed, then her voice grew more quiet, "I'm not supposed to tell you yet, but you're definitely in."

"Seriously?" Mariana restrained herself from squealing, looking around the gym rapidly to see if anyone had heard her.

"Yeah, so stick around. Maybe fix your hair or something, and practice your victory smile," said Hayley, tapping her arm and standing up to leave.

Mariana frowned a little, touching her hair, she _had_ been fixing it. She shook off any distressing thoughts. She was in, that was all that mattered.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Callie stabbed at the buttons of her phone fruitlessly. She knew Wyatt wasn't able to read her messages, but it made her feel better to send them. She was upset that his mom wasn't allowing him to use his phone, but at the same time she was relieved that he was safe. She hadn't told him, but it had worried her to have him trying to find a place to sleep each night. She had asked him several times to let her tell Lena and Stef, but he had vehemently refused. She sighed. She missed talking with him. Her new hearing was in two weeks and she was simultaneously excited and nervous. If everything worked out, she would be Stef and Lena's daughter in two weeks, Callie Foster. She had tried it out, writing her new name in a notebook in its various permutations. It was strange to look at, but comforting as well. Jacob hadn't come from her mother, it had come from Donald, who wasn't even her biological father. She was more than happy to exchange it, especially since Jude had changed his. Of course with all this anticipation came the anxiety that something else would happen and she'd be in the same holding pattern she'd been in. It was almost worse, being so close to what she wanted. She was worried that Robert Quinn would take it away from her, and her resentment towards this man she hadn't met, but shared blood, surpassed her curiosity about him. If she wanted, she could learn more about him when she was safe with the Fosters. Currently she was waiting for Mariana to get done with practice so they could walk home together, but it was taking long enough that they might as well hitch a ride home with Lena and Brandon. She quickly texted Mariana, telling her to meet in Lena's office, as she headed there herself. She was surprised to see Jude, cross-legged in one of the chairs reading The Golden Compass. Both he and Brandon looked up when she walked through the door. Giving Brandon a slight nod she headed over to her brother. "Hey, bud, what are doing here? Aren't you going to Connor's house tonight, or is he coming to ours?"

Jude shrugged as he closed the book, "I'm not hanging out with him tonight."

"Why?" she asked as she sat next to him.

"I don't know," Jude slumped down in his chair, "I guess he's mad at me because I'm hanging out with Maddie."

Callie scoffed, "why is he mad? Boys date girls all the time, that's perfectly normal."

"Mama says not to use the word normal in this type of situation," Jude said, playing with the edge of the bookmark in his book.

"Okay," Callie frowned at him. "But maybe it's a little selfish for Connor to not want you to be friends with other people, don't you think?"

"Maybe," said Jude, drawing the word out, "but I didn't really like it when he said _he_ was going to hang out with Maddie alone."

"Well," said Callie slowly, trying to be supportive, "then maybe you both need to learn how to share."

Jude looked at her seriously, "Mama said that lots of people get jealous of their friends, and just because I'm jealous of Connor…or jealous of Maddie doesn't mean I'm gay."

Callie's eyes widened a little bit and she looked at Brandon to see if he was listening.

He looked back at her, then Jude, "I can leave if you guys want to talk," he began closing his book and putting his notebook in his backpack.

"Uh, no, it's okay," said Callie quickly, then she turned back to her brother. "Lena's right, Jude. You don't have to, um,…identify yourself right now. Just be you."

"You won't get mad at me anymore if I wear nail polish or get my ears pierced or something?" Jude asked, studying his currently unpainted nails.

"I wasn't…mad at you Jude, not ever. I just didn't want you to get hurt and I was worried that the next family we had might hurt you because of it."

He scrutinized her carefully, and suddenly Callie felt terrible. Had she made her brother feel badly for trying to be himself? In protecting him, had she unconsciously told him that he wasn't right…wasn't normal?

"I just wanted you to be safe," she whispered. "Now that you have Lena and Stef, we have Lena and Stef," she amended quickly, "you don't have to worry about that. I mean, there might be people out there that bother you, but everyone at home will protect you."

He smiled, "yeah."

"When are you going to get your ears pierced?" asked Brandon, after a few moments of silence had passed.

"Probably not for a couple of weeks, Mom said she had to talk to Mama and I have to save up," he made a little face, "I would have almost had it except for golfing tomorrow and then I lent Mariana some money."

"You did?" asked Callie, exchanging another glance with Brandon.

"Yeah, I heard her asking Jesús so I gave her some money too," he straightened a little, "if she's gonna ask you guys for money, she has to ask me too. I'm her brother too, you know, even though I'm the youngest."

"I can't believe she hit you both up for money," said Brandon, shaking his head, "Moms would completely flip out on her if they knew."

"How much did she get from you?" Callie challenged.

"A good amount," Brandon said.

"Well, you'll be happy to know she bought a lovely jacket," Callie informed him, "soft, buttery, leather. It does look gorgeous on her though," Callie admitted.

"Oh my G-d, she bought clothes?" Brandon said, a little louder then he intended. He immediately lowered his voice, glancing at Lena's door, "you guys cannot tell Moms, seriously. She was begging for clothes the other night and they shut her down."

"Didn't you ask what she was buying with your money?" Callie asked, mouth dropping slightly.

"No," Brandon shrugged, "I figured it was okay. I mean, it's Mariana."

"She just sold Jesús's pills and gave all her money to her crackhead birth mom last month," Callie pointed out, then because she couldn't help it she added, "dumbass."

Brandon scowled at her, "look. She did her whole big eye thing, and then she started begging me, and telling me she had to have the money and…" he trailed off helplessly, "what was I supposed to do?"

Callie shook her head wearily.

"Hey, you gave her money too," Brandon said.

"Yeah, and I made sure to ask her what she was going to do with it," said Callie.

"Will Mariana get in trouble?" interrupted Jude worriedly. He hadn't thought Mariana was doing anything wrong.

"Nope," said Brandon, "'cause we aren't going to say anything. If they catch her, then she can deal with the fall out."

Despite herself, Callie chuckled. Mariana was so sweet and innocent looking it was easy to forget how good she was at getting what she wanted.

"Oh," said Jude, straightening up and nearly dropping his book, "I just realized I forgot something in my locker. I'll be back in like, five minutes," he assured them, leaving the book on Callie's lap and heading for the door.

Callie and Brandon watched him leave then Callie cleared her throat, "I'm glad you're his brother too," she said.

Brandon looked at her, confused. That was quite a switch from their earlier conversation. "What?"

"I just realized that, when I was talking to him, when I said you'd protect him. I understood that was really true. I wasn't just saying something to make him feel better, like I always use to have to do. He has Lena, Stef, Mariana, Jesús, me, and you. That's six people looking out for him, when before it was just us. That's-that's an incredible feeling Brandon. You can't imagine how happy that makes me."

Her smile was heartbreakingly happy and Brandon felt that tug at his heart, the same one he'd felt when she'd said she had to find Jude. "You have all of us too," he said. "We'll protect you too Callie, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," she squeezed his hand briefly, then released it.

He offered her a quick smile, then nodded to her phone that she hadn't realized she had been still holding, "heard from Wyatt yet?"

"No," she accepted the change of subject gratefully, "he's still incommunicado."

"Sucks."

"Yeah," she sighed. "You know, it would have been nice if you guys hadn't been doing stupid things at the same time."

Brandon grinned and opened his book again, "we'll make sure to coordinate better next time."

"Thanks a lot."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jesús leaned over Emma's arm as she patiently erased a mistake on his paper, "no, that's not right. "You did okay on the first few steps but look here," she pointed to the error, "You need to double this first, then divide."

"Oh," said Jesús, taking his pencil in hand, "you told me that before, didn't you?"

"It's okay," Emma smiled at him. "Sometimes it takes awhile to sink in."

"With me it does," Jesús admitted, writing the correct solution. "It takes me four or five times to get done what most people do in one." It was something he had become accustomed too, but he still didn't like it. Mariana and Brandon always did well in school, and while he knew it wasn't effortless on their part, it was easier for them.

"But you still get it, right?" asked Emma, "that's what really counts."

"Yeah, I guess. I just get tired of having to work harder than everyone else."

Emma punched him in the shoulder, hard, "welcome to my world, dude. That's what it's like for me all the time in wrestling. Don't be a whiner. You're building character."

"Thanks a lot, coach," said Jesús, a little stung. He thought he had the right to complain, at least a little. "Wrestling is something you chose to do, you knew it would be hard. I can't choose not to do school. School's always been hard for me and I still have a bunch to go."

"I know it sucks, Jesús," Emma said, "I get that, but think of how hard you've worked. That's totally going to help you. A lot of things come easily to some people, but that doesn't make them successful later."

Sometimes dating Emma felt like dating an adult. She seemed so self-assured, like she wasn't thrown by anything. And she didn't seem to…need anything from him. He knew she liked him, she wasn't faking that, but she was always so in control it made him feel off-balance. She was already a little older than him, she could drive and everything, and that was kind of intimidating enough, but her whole personality was aggressive. There was no mystery to what she wanted, she would tell him right off, but he wasn't sure she needed _him_, specifically. She could tell another guy what to do easily enough. What made him, Jesús Foster, important to her if she didn't need anything from him? "Yeah, okay," he mumbled. He didn't want a pep talk from her. He wanted girlfriend stuff. "Oh, I forgot," he said lifting his head, "I can't go out tomorrow night, I have this thing with my friend Sam that we planned, like a month ago and I forgot until he reminded me today."

"Well, can you do something Sunday then?" asked Emma, disappointed, "I can't do anything tonight, you know. Shabbat."

"Yeah," said Jesús, remembering that very well, "um, I don't know. I'll get back to you tonight."

"Sure," said Emma slowly, watching as he began putting his books back into his backpack, "look, did I upset you or something? Because I didn't mean to."

Jesús slowed his motions, "no," he said finally, "I just get frustrated with school sometimes, and the guys have been giving me a hard time lately," both these statements were true although they weren't the crux of the issue.

"Okay," Emma didn't bother to hid the thread of disbelief in her voice, "I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow then."

"Yeah," he leaned over to give her a kiss. He usually liked being at Emma's house. Her mother was an amazing cook and always was giving him samples of what she made, especially on Fridays. Plus it was a lot quieter than his house and had more privacy. "Talk to you later."

Jesús left her house feeling frustrated. He felt like he should say something, but he wasn't sure how. Emma didn't scare him, but she always had an answer for everything. He thought longingly of Lexi. He felt like he knew his place with Lexi. He had known her since they were little, but that wasn't the only reason he felt so comfortable with her. She depended on him. It was a nice feeling. It made him feel…steadier, sure of himself in a way that being with Emma didn't. He was feeling more and more that he made a mistake in choosing Emma.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Dad?" Brandon called as he walked in the door. Lena had dropped him off at his dad's place because he said he'd be off earlier today.

"In here Brandon."

That voice was definitely not his father. "Dani?" he called back, not terribly enthusiastically.

"Yeah, in here." Brandon followed her voice into the living room. Dani was slumped wearily on the couch, "your dad's getting Chinese food, he'll be back in about ten minutes. I was too tired to play Suzy Homemaker tonight and make dinner."

"Oh, okay," said Brandon, shifting a little.

"C'mon, put your backpack down. Join me. I'm watching American Pie."

"Okay," Brandon shrugged, sitting on the other end of the couch. He watched for a few minutes, feeling uncomfortable

"I know the humor's a little crude, but it's like, my favorite movie. You don't mind , do you?" Dani asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

"No," Brandon lied.

They watched in silence a for more minutes, then Dani, turned down the volume, but kept her face towards the screen, "Your dad told me your busted for four months. That's pretty harsh."

"I guess," Brandon watched as Jason Biggs tried to explain to his father about the pie. He winced.

"I guess I just don't understand why they're grounding you for so long, I mean, you feel bad about what you did, right?"

"Yes," Brandon said seriously, "I'm really sorry."

"Well, it's not like you don't know what you did was stupid, and you're not going to do it again?" Dani absently played with the remote.

Brandon shook his head, after his talk with Lena he had barely felt like he'd be able to turn in his homework a day late without feeling badly.

Dani frowned at the screen, "I think they're being a little hard on you. But, that's just my opinion of course. I mean, I'm not your parent, obviously." She chuckled a little, "you know, I think your dad still thinks of you as that ten year old in a baseball cap from that picture he has on the coffee table. And if I know moms, I bet yours still think you're even younger than that." She turned so she was facing him, "they don't see how much you've grown up. They don't realize that for all intents and purposes, you're a man".

Brandon shifted a little, his body angling more towards her, "maybe," he said, unwilling to commit.

"Likely," said Dani, studying the tension in his jaw carefully. "Your parents are good people, really. They just need to start letting go a little."

Brandon shrugged but then nodded, "yeah, I guess."

Dani put a hand on his thigh, squeezed gently, "I just want you to know that I'm on your side. If you need anything, you can come to me, I'll help you." She let her hand linger on his thigh, patted his leg, then removed her hand as they heard the door open. "We're in here!" she called to Mike, shutting the television off in a smooth motion.

"Hey," Mike gave his son a smile as he put bags of Chinese food on the table, "I knew you'd probably be here before me. Lena's always so punctual, I can set my watch by that woman."

"Yeah," said Brandon, "plus she had to get the rest of them home."

"I'll get the plates and things, you boys wash up," said Dani as she sprang to her feet and headed for the kitchen.

Mike swung an arm around his son and kneaded his neck, "you and Dani getting along alright?"

"Yeah," said Brandon, "we're fine."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Stef stretched her legs out onto her partner's lap, toying with her wine glass as she stared incredulously at her, "they're actually firing Karina?"

"Yeah, she told me. She's pretty bitter about it," said Lena, holding the stem of her own glass.

"Over what, exactly?"

"The preferential treatment she gives to students like Vico," said Lena. "There was a freshman last year that Vico beat up and basically just got a slap on the wrist as punishment. His parents made several petitions to the school board and finally hired a lawyer to sue both the Cerars and the school for not doing anything about it. It shook them up. This is their way of dealing with it."

"Huh," Stef stretched a little, "how do you feel about it?"

"I feel, lots of things really. I mean, I hated that Karina let some kids get away with everything they did, even when I tried to talk to her she'd just…dismiss it, dismiss me. But that also benefitted me too. I mean she could have expelled Brandon and Mariana for the pills and the fake ids, but because they were my kids, she let them off more easily. And I guess, I justified that in my mind by saying that they were good kids that made uncharacteristically bad decisions. And they were, they are. Not like Vico who I really worry about, but still, doesn't that make me duplicitous, to benefit from the same positions I didn't like?" Lena let her head fall back onto the couch cushions.

"I guess we did benefit," said Stef, "but even if we hadn't, if the kids hadn't gotten into any trouble, would that have changed anything Karina did? She still would have been letting the wealthier kids get away with things, just like she allowed the parents to overload the activities and sports with money for their own kids until the Parent Board put a stop to that."

"Maybe," Lena stared off into space, thinking of all the ramifications of this incident. "I'm kind of worried about me, too. We've worked together for awhile, I'm kind of…tainted by her. I feel like I should have said more, done more."

Stef kissed her fingers, "you aren't tainted. You have stood up to Sanchez, several times. She just didn't listen to you." She pulled her legs from Lena's lap so she didn't have to look up at her, "When it's a choice between the easy path or the hard path, you choose to do the right thing, even if it's the harder path."

Lena bit her lap, "I changed an answer to Jude's test so he could get in," she reminded her wife, still feeling a faint tinge of guilt.

"And it was the hard thing," Stef said, holding her lover's hand in both of hers. "It would have been detrimental for Jude to go to another school. He needed to be in the same school with his sister and now the rest of his siblings. That was the best thing for him, and even though it was a hard decision for you because it compromised some of your own moral code, you made the right decision."

Lena lay her head of Stef's shoulder, "I love you so much. My beautiful, amazing wife. You always know how to make things right again."

Stef kissed her head, "I know you, I know your heart. You are a wonderful person, an incredible teacher, and a brilliant wife and mother. Don't let this thing with Karina shake you."

"There's something else," said Lena, a trifle more hesitantly, "since they won't have Karina, that means they'll be…looking for a new principal," she stared into Stef's brown eyes.

"Oh," said Stef, catching on quickly. "Seriously? You want to be the new principal?"

"I don't know," said Lena, plucking nervously at the afghan. "It's an idea."

"Isn't that a lot to take on, love?" asked Stef, "I mean, we have five kids with another on the way. It seems like a lot to put on yourself."

"I still have to think about it," said Lena, "but I am interested in it. I could finally make some of those changes and improvements to the school that I've wanted for so long."

Stef eyed her lover worriedly. Lena thrived on challenges and her focus was incredible. She had no concerns that her wife could handle the load to the benefit of the school, but it was also quite possible that Lena would overwork herself in an effort to complete everything to the utmost perfection.

"You know I'll support you in whatever you do, but you need to be careful. You can't overwork and exhaust yourself. That wouldn't be good for you, or the baby," she splayed her hand against Lena's stomach, a gentle reminder.

"I know. That's what I have to think about some more, talk to you, and get a sense of what the board is thinking. I won't rush into it, I promise," Lena put her hand over Stef's.

"Good." They kissed tenderly, Lena looping a leg over Stef's and Stef pushing forward a little. Stef unbuttoned Lena's shirt, sliding a hand over her warm skin. Lena's breath caught a little and she tangled a hand in Stef's hair, bringing their mouths together for another kiss. Grinning at one another, they simultaneously lay into the couch.

"Kids," reminded Lena as they heard faint footsteps from upstairs.

Stef groaned and grabbed her hand, hauling her up and off of the couch, "c'mon, let's get going before one of them decides they need us."

"Grab some water," Lena demanded, kissing her. "I'll check on them one last time and maybe we can actually…do something."

Stef grinned.


	8. Disappointments

_Thanks for the reviews, folks. Always a pleasure to read._

Callie rocked nervously on her feet glancing from the courtroom door, to the nearest entrance, to her feet, then to her foster moms. This began an unrelenting circle that speeded up the more nervous she became. Eventually, the slight dizziness caused her to lay a hand on the armrest to steady herself.

A warm hand covered hers, "It's going to be okay, love," said Stef. "Your dad will be here any minute."

"Yeah," said Callie hollowly. Thinking of her father always brought waves of conflicting emotions. Yes, he was her dad, and she did have some good memories of him as a young child, but the truth was, she had lost faith in him years ago, and it was only upon seeing him once again that she realized he was a veritable stranger. It had unexpectedly touched her when she realized she had someone back in her life that could tell her stories of her early childhood. When he reminded her about her thumb-sucking, she had been near tears. He had given her the gift of a memory that would have otherwise been lost. He could do that for her. But further into their conversation, she realized something else. He didn't know her now. He didn't know her motivations, her troubled thoughts, or emotions which always seemed to twist inside her. He loved her, she loved him, but they didn't know each other. The fact that he wasn't her biological father just made them feel further away from one another. All she had this moment was the hope that he would follow through, that he would continue to do what she asked by allowing her to be adopted by the parents she felt _did_ know her…and love her.

"I got the soda you like, Callie," Jude said, appearing behind her left elbow and startling her.

She jumped a little, her eyes settling on her brother, "thanks buddy."

He handed her the bottle and watched as she twisted the cap on and off, on and off, on and off. "It's going to be fine," Jude assured her. "Dad will tell them everything and we'll be back her in a couple weeks with the adoption papers." His tone was confident but his eyes begged her to agree, begged her to tell him that things were going to be alright.

"Sure, yeah," she said, trying to infuse as much confidence as possible into her tone. "I'm sure that's what's going to happen."

Lena smiled over at them, "Jude, why don't we take this opportunity to go over those equations that were giving you a hard time last night."

"Sure," Jude gave Callie's hand a light squeeze, then trotted over to the chair next to Lena's. He seemed happy to be able to escape the worry that was clouding both of their minds. Of course, he could have also just been happy that he had a mom he knew would help him with his homework and notice that he needed a distraction.

Callie felt a pang. She loved that he felt so safe with Stef and Lena, a little sad because she used to fulfill part of that role, and also longing to feel that sense of safety again. When she felt Stef's hand rub her back comfortingly, she let herself lean into the touch. They sat quietly until Donald showed up. Callie had let herself relax so much under Stef's soothing hands, that she hadn't noticed him walk in. Part of it was the way he moved, differently from what she remembered when she was young. His posture was diffident, the stride cautious, every move he made spoke of tentativeness and regret. _What had changed him so much_? wondered Callie. _Was it prison, or was it because he had killed people, her mother, and would never quite forgive himself_? Probably a little of both. The sadness that washed over her nearly took her breath away. Fighting this, she offered him a small smile and gestured to the seat next to her, "hi Dad."

"Hi," he sat nervously, on the edge of the chair, nodding politely to Stef and Lena.

"Hi Dad," said Jude from the other side of Lena. He shifted a little uncomfortably, then added, "I uh, just got some math I want to finish. Then we can…talk or something."

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure. Get your homework done, that's an important thing," Donald said. His words sounded a little hollow, like someone who once knew their lines but were now so unfamiliar that they could only echo the words, not the emotions. It was kind of weird, because Jude was his biological son, but he seemed more uncomfortable around him. Maybe because Jude had so few memories of him, maybe he felt that blood was the only real thing they shared now.

Callie wanted to change that. She didn't want her brother and father to be strangers. She _would_ change that, she decided. Once she was safe and adopted she could do a lot of things.

Stef and Lena made sure to include Donald in their conversations, but it was a fairly awkward hour. Callie was relieved when Marie came and they had to go over their testimony. When it was their turn, Callie was more than ready. _This was it_.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The car ride home was silent and weighty. Lena looked at her wife. Her face was pinched as she drove, the frown that furrowed her brow was the same one she'd been wearing since they heard the judge's decision. Lena used the mirrors to look at the children in the back seat. Jude was wearing his emotions on his sleeve, his face was crushed with disappointment. He refused to go to the mall to get his ears pierced, something he was saving as a celebration when the adoption paperwork was cleared up. He had become downright surly when all three of them, at different points, tried to convince him that piercing his ears would be fine, a good thing, a cool new style. He had finally stopped responding to them, looking out the window as the cars and buildings sped by.

Callie's face was carefully, almost deliberately blank. She would alternatively stare out in front of her, or out the window. Her face registered very little emotion but her eyes had that same horrible resignation, like the night when the social worker visited. Lena hated that look, it made her heartsick. She leaned back in her seat, feeling overwhelmed.

Without looking away from the road, Stef picked up her hand from her lap, and entwined her fingers with her own, settling their hands between the two seats. "We'll be okay," Stef said quietly, too quietly for the children to hear. "There's still a lot we can do."

Lena realized that Stef was already working through all the possible problems and outcomes, gnawing at them like a dog with a bone and would continue to do so until she had a clear-cut path towards choices she could live with. Lena squeezed her lover's hand, smiling a little when Stef lifted it and kissed the tips of her fingers. She felt reassured, marveling the fact that with just a simple phrase and her touch, Stef was able to make things feel right. It was a gift, one that Stef never really acknowledged – maybe didn't even realize she had. She made people feel safe and her reassurance was strong enough that it made everyone else believe too. And now, Lena decided, turning a little so she could see Callie, who's forehead was pressed to the glass, they just needed to give their daughter have faith too.

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The mood hadn't brightened significantly by dinner time. Understandably, all the teens were upset by the news. Even though nearly all of them made attempts to cheer both Callie and Jude up, the family sunk once more into defeated silence.

After another round of silence, Lena tried to get the conversation ball rolling again. "How was your day?" she asked Mariana, as she passed the broccoli down the table to her wife. This was the second week of dance practice and Lena was a little concerned that Mariana seemed to be closing down and becoming more secretive with each passing day.

"It was good," Mariana said.

"Just good? C'mon Miss Thing, it's got to be better then 'just good'. You worked your butt off to get there," Stef said, taking a scoop of the broccoli and letting it settle next to the salmon on her plate.

"It's great," said Mariana visibly trying to muster more enthusiasm. "The girls are really nice." There was a faint hesitation before the word nice and both mothers instantly took note and catalogued this as a concern.

"What's orchestra like, Brandon?" Mariana asked, trying to throw the spotlight on someone else, "are they all geeks too? You must be in heaven."

"Mariana," Lena said reprovingly.

Brandon shrugged, "yeah, pretty much. They're all really good, but some of them are only there because their parents make them practice and stuff. They can be kind of depressing to be around."

"That's too bad," said Stef finally, after she chewed, "what about the others?"

"The rest of them just love music. Some of them have been there for years." He moved his fork restlessly across, then looked at his mothers, "I guess a lot of them form quartets and everything to practice. One of the girls asked me if I could join them…" he trailed off.

"Where do they meet?" asked Lena, after looking at her wife.

"Different houses I guess. They'd probably be okay just meeting here though." Brandon didn't infuse too much hope in his voice.

"We'll let you know," said Stef.

Brandon sighed and nodded.

"Great," said Mariana, "It'll be like listening to Brandon but in stereo. That won't be distracting."

Brandon shot her a look

"I think it'll be nice," said Callie quietly.

"Thanks," said Brandon, a little surprised. The mood at the table lightened considerably.

"I noticed you were out the door again today at 6:30, Jesús," said Lena. "You're being really faithful about running."

"Knocked down my time a lot," Jesús said, helping himself to more salmon. "Maybe I could try out for track this year too."

"I think that's a great idea, Jesús," Stef said. "Just keep up with your schoolwork. And don't neglect Emma," she joked. "We all like her, and she'd never let you forget it."

"Yeah," said Jesús with a half-hearted smile.

"She hasn't really been around here much lately," observed Mariana. "What's up with that?"

"She's busy," he said, glaring at his twin a little.

"With what?" persisted Mariana.

"Stuff, Mariana, geez, do you always have to be in my business."

"Relax Jesús," said Stef. "Mariana was only asking a question. Why are you getting so upset? Is there something wrong with you and Emma?"

"There's n_othing_ wrong with us. We just don't have to be joined at the hip or something all the time."

"More like joined at the lips," said Mariana, getting him back for snapping at her.

"Enough," sighed Lena. "Let's finish our dinner peacefully, okay? Then maybe we can do something as a family. She leveled a look at Jesús, Mariana, and Brandon which they understood immediately. Without looking at Callie or Jude, they nodded. Game night.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"I'm really sorry about this Callie," said Wyatt, leaning against her locker. "That really sucks. What are you guys going to do?"

"Nothing," said Callie flatly, shutting her locker with a sharp bang.

"What'd you mean?"

"I mean, I'm done. I don't really need to get adopted, I'll be eighteen in two years. Lena and Stef already said I could stay with them, and they have Jude, and that's all I really want anyway."

"Are you kidding me?" Wyatt asked, stopping her by pulling on the sleeve of her coat, "That's all you've been talking about for the last month. It's why you didn't do the independent living thing."

Callie let him draw her to a stop, keeping a shoulder between them. "You're right, it's what I _wanted_. But it's different now. I don't want to get in touch with this Quinn guy. I don't _need_ any more crap in my life. I just need to be able to live it for awhile."

"But maybe if you-"

"But maybe things would get worse, Wyatt. Have you thought about that? Maybe getting in touch with this Quinn guy will make everything harder." She turned to look at him fully. "I'm pretty happy right now," she said. "There's things I would change, but overall things are good. Rita told me I need to let my luck catch up and she's right. I just-I just need to _breathe_ right now, Wyatt."

"Okay, okay," Wyatt said. He hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry. I get it, well as much as I can get it," he amended after a look from her.

"Thank you," said Callie. "I just, I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"

"Okay," he said, letting her go when her body tensed enough to indicate she wanted to be free. He hesitated, damning himself already but unable to stop, "are you at least talking to someone about it? Brandon maybe?"

She folded her arms impatiently, "Wyatt."

"Alright, sorry," he raised his hands in defeat. "I guess I'm just sorry I can't be there more for you right now."

Callie smirked a little, "you're mom's still pissed?"

"Oh man, more pissed then she's ever been. Every time I come home, she's added a new repair or something to the list. At this rate, I'll be fixing things until I'm thirty."

Callie laughed, "sorry."

"Yeah. I'm trying to convince her that you need to see me, so maybe she'll at least let you come over to the apartment.

"Oh yeah?" Callie tossed him a look, "what makes you think I need you?"

"I dunno," he drew their hips together, "you probably don't. I'm the one that needs you."

She smiled and kissed him, "I need you too."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"It's okay, Jenna, just calm down."

Mariana froze in the bathroom stall when she recognized the voices.

"What's wrong, anyway?" Kaitlyn sounded sympathetic but there was an undercurrent of annoyance.

"It's everything," the other girl…Jenna said. "It's my parents, it's school. The only reason I've even wanted to go to school at all lately is for the dance team, and now I don't even have that!" her voice had turned accusing.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. Really. I really wanted you to be on the dance team with me."

"Then why aren't I, Kaitlyn? Why's that little bitch there instead?"

Mariana breathed almost silently, not daring to move.

"Oh, you know why," said Kaitlyn, now sounding bored.

"No I don't. You said I was a sure thing, and I saw her dance. She's not that good, there were other girls better than her and I was miles above her."

"Yeah, I know," said Kaitlyn.

Mariana felt her heart constrict and her eyes automatically began to water. _What_?

"It's more of that stupid inclusion crap. We have to show diversity, otherwise we're all going to be accused of being racists or something. Just be glad they're not making us include retards or something."

"Almost," sniffed Jenna sounding vicious now instead of sad. "Mariana looks like some spastic monkey or something when she dances."

"I know," Kaitlyn said. "We're going to have to help her a lot…and make sure she's in the back row…in a dark corner…where no one can see her."

"Yeah," now Jenna sounded viciously happy. "I guess I'm sorry for you guys though. I didn't realize you _had_ to take her. Nothing about her fits in."

"Oh well," sighed Kaitlyn. "We'll figure something out." They left the bathroom giggling over possible ways to "eliminate" the problem.

Mariana emerged from the stall, her eyes welling with tears but refusing to let them fall. She would not cry and mess up her make-up and give them another reason to make fun of her. She walked slowly to the mirror, gazing at her reflection. Diversity? That's all she was? She suddenly felt smaller, uglier. She closed her eyes, then opened them again. She'd show them.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jude stomped his way to his room. The whole day had gone sidewise. Maddie kept bugging him about going on another date and Connor had been weirdly standoffish. Seeing the hat on the door knob_, his_ doorknob, was the last straw. He flung open the door glancing over at Jesús long enough to see that he was video chatting with Lexi. He snorted in disgust.

"Jude-"

"What?" Jude bit out.

"Why did you just-" Jesús sounded frustrated, then took a deep breath, remembering his little brother had had a rough couple of days. "Look, Jude, would you please just give me five more minutes? I promise I'll be done really quick."

"What, with more _Jesús time_?" said Jude in disgust, as he flopped on his bed. "Bet Emma loves that," he craned his neck to direct his comment to Lexi, "you do know he's having sex with Emma now, right?"

Looking from the screen to his brother, Jesús scrambled for something to say, "I'm not-he just…what the hell Jude?"

"Jesús?" Lexi's voice was bewildered, but he saw the dawning distress on her face.

"Lexi," Jesús began helplessly. He's been having _such_ a good conversation with her. They'd been laughing and having fun, just like before. There was no stress, no competition. She even asked his opinion about something that was bothering her with her parents and she had listened, really listened to his advice. Now instead of fondness, she was looking at him with so much disappointment, he could hardly bear it. "I-I'm not Lexi. I-we…"

"Never mind," Lexi's voice sounded a little choked. "It's none of my business anymore. It doesn't matter." She looked over her shoulder, scrubbing at her eyes as she did so, "um, I gotta go. My mom needs me to help with dinner. We can talk later."

"Lexi-" Jesús tried again.

"Bye," in one quick movement, Lexi terminated the conversation.

Jesús stared at the screen, stunned how fast things had changed. His hands clenched into fists as he stalked over to Jude's side of the room, where his brother was pretending to read a book. He wrenched it away from him, throwing it down on the bed. "What…the hell…was that?"

Jude stared at him calmly, even folding his hands across his stomach, "you don't get to keep me out of our room anymore. It's _our_ room, remember?"

"Fine, whatever," Jesús slashed an arm down, conveying his indifference, "but why would you do that? Why would you hurt Lexi like that?"

"_I'm_ not the one hurting Lexi. _I'm_ not the one trying to sleep with as many girls as possible," Jude's brown eyes flickered with contempt.

"You're not sleeping with girls at all," said Jesús, "and probably never will so who are you to judge?"

Jude grabbed the book at flung it towards Jesús's face. Jesús raised a hand to deflect it, but the corner caught a tender part of his nose and it began to bleed. Jesús watched as crimson drops splattered to the ground, "son of a_ bitch_," he said furiously, plugging his nose to prevent further blood loss.

Stef came striding in quickly, "what's with all the-" she caught sight of Jesús, and her voice went from irritated to concerned, "what the hell happened?"

"Ask him!" said Jesús, pointing a bloodied finger at Jude who was standing tensely, both anger and concern mixed on his face.

"Alright, let's get you to the bathroom, Jesús," said Stef. She put an arm around her middle son and began leading him to the door. "you," she pointed a warning finger at Jude, "sit there and calm down, young man."

Jude sat, on suddenly unsteady legs. What had he done?


End file.
